I Danced With Cinderella

I have successfully managed to rewrite the opening to this post about four times. Each time I would get about two paragraphs in, I would look at it and say "No, that doesn't sound right." and I delete it and start over. How do you begin the story of a relationship that transcends anything the heart can explain? You really can't, you just open the book and start writing. It may not be fancy, but it's real.

Kinda like peanut butter. Not fancy, but just as vital to life as water and breath.

Eight years ago, my wife and I joined the church we now call our home. I had gone from a life of "church hopping" to deciding that unless we planted our feet somewhere, we would never grow. Many things about our church made me love it, almost from the beginning. Most of all, for me, it was the children. There were a lot of individual kids that captured my heart, and I could write a story about all of them, but for this blog entry, I want to talk about a very special one.

Her name is Tiffany. <3

Now, this photo is an earlier one. I didn't take it myself, because when we first began settling into our church, I didn't want to poke my camera in everyone's faces. This is the way I remember meeting her, though. She came up to me after Awana, no more than 4 years old at the time, and put her arms around my leg. She looked up at me with those eyes, and I looked back down at her and said "If you don't let go of my leg, you just might take a part of my heart with you." She grinned, and held on even tighter. This was the first of many times she would say (in her own little way) "Challenge accepted."

Tiffany grew, and I learned more about her from not only her talking to me, but from her grandmother. I won't go too deeply into her life, but for the purpose of this post, we will sum it up to say her mother and father are not in the picture. The reasons why don't matter to me, because she will be the first to shake off ANY signs of pity, and let you know with the joy in her eyes that God has given her all she needs in life in the arms of her grandma, and the people in church who love her too.

 Again, none of these photos so far are mine. I had not taken any of her yet. I was being careful, you see. By this point, Tiffany had managed a solid grip on me. I would see her in church, and she would run over to me, pigtails bouncing, and say "Mister Daniel! Mister Daniel! Mister Daniel!!" before jumping up into my arms. I was always very quick to put her back down (after a quick hug) because I never, ever wanted to present myself as any sort of replacement or father figure for her that she had never asked for in the first place, much less her grandma. Still, she was managing to weave her way into my heart in a way that could not be unwound, and I think she knew it.

I don't remember exactly when it happened, but at one point, her grandma came over to me and told me how much she appreciated me being a father figure to TIffany. Tiff was standing right behind her, and giving me that little smile that always seems to grab me away from whatever "duty" seemed important.

It was as if I had been given permission by God and by "mom" to be that person to Tiffany, and from that moment on, I made it my mission to let her know how special she was to me. How proud I was of her. How amazing her life was for God, and how deeply she had impacted ME as well. I talked to her like an adult would talk to a friend, instead of a grown-up talking to a kid. She would listen, and would share parts of her heart with me in return that she had not shared with anyone else.

A precious, brilliant, beautiful little girl began to unfold in front of me, because instead of a sideways hug from an adult, that ends in a pat on the back and "off you go", I would get down on one knee and look eye-to-eye with her. This was my way of saying "I want to be in YOUR world right now." I think this was right around the time she first whispered to me that she loved me. I had no idea how I had been granted the worth of those words, but when she said them the first time, I remember not being able to breathe under the weight of their meaning.

I also began taking more pictures of her. Almost as many as I took of my own children.

And the more I watched her, and the more I talked with her mom, the more I wanted to be a greater influence on her life.

I still do. With all my heart, I still do.

~~~~~~~~

About three weeks ago, I got a text from her grandma. I still have this text in my phone. I practically have it memorized. I must have reread it a dozen times.

"Tiffany and I were wondering if you would give her the honor of taking her to the Daddy/Daughter dance at her school."

I'm not going to lie to you. When I read that text, I had to stop for a moment and recompose myself. Tears were shed, and quite a few at that. After checking with my Bethany to see if it would be okay, I accepted...with my heart still in my throat.

A few days later, I came over to her house to see the dress she would be wearing. It was a beautiful little robin-egg blue and teal dress with sequins around the waist. I just stared at this little girl that had garbbed my heart so many years ago, and thanked God for giving me the gift of her love.

The night of the dance finally came, and I took my tuxedo out of the closet. (Nothing but the best for this night!) I had picked up the first corsage I'd ordered since I went to my high school prom, and it was so tiny, that it was barely bigger than a tennis ball. <3

I got to her house, and after her hair was fixed, I stood back and saw this perfect little princess standing in front of me...a slight look of modest beauty on her face, and magic in her eyes.

What does a grown man do when a beautiful princess walks in the room?

He kneels at her feet. <3

Oh, my heart...

At the dance, we had marshmallows and pretzels and strawberries and punch, like you would expect at any elementary school dance. I tried to show off my dance skills, and she told me to sit down and watch her plate while she ran giggling with her friends. She came back and sat with me after a few minutes, and we took turns nibbling on pineapple chunks and grapes.

Then a slow song came on, and I stood and offered her my hand.

"May I have this dance?" I asked.

She stood,  and followed me onto the floor. We danced slowly, swaying back and forth to the music, laughing about silly nothing-things, and she even let me twirl her a few times.

Then another song started...another slow song...and I knew it immediately.

Not gonna mix words here. The minute the first chorus began, I was a basketcase.

"I will dance with Cinderella, while she is here in my arms..."

I leaned close to Tiffany, and laid my head on hers. To keep from losing it completely, I sang to her, and she held me closer than before, swaying to the music. Time truly stood still for a few minutes. Finally, she looked up at me, and I smiled at her once more as the song faded away. I don't think she understood the meaning of the words in the song, but they hit me like a velvet hammer.

God has blessed me with her for a short, amazing, beautiful time. And I am not going to waste one minute He has given.

After all, not every man gets a chance to dance with Cinderella...