My daughter, Blair, went back to college today.  After having her home for a week, I'm really going to feel her absence!  I stayed home from church with Carson, who is sick with fever, and cooked her a big send off lunch and finished up her laundry.  She brought home all of her wintry apparel and traded them out for shorts and sandals, so our afternoon has been busy!              

After spending the week with Blair, I was reminded of one of the things that I so admire about her.......she's never been afraid to be her own person, even if it means standing out like a flamingo in a flock of geese!  If her favorite song was playing this week while we were out shopping, she'd just start belting it out, right there, for everyone in the store.  I suppose why I appreciate that in her so much is because, when I was young, my middle name was "Obscurity" and blending in was my favorite hobby.      
 
Just to give you a little description of her......to say that Blair is a girly girl, doesn't really do her justice.  No, Blair has achieved femininity in its highest form.  If femininity had levels, she'd be what you'd call a Gold Cardholder, Summa Cum Laude, Five Star General, Black Belt, Her Excellency, Platinum Member, Commander in Chief, Valedictorian, Your Honor, Hall of Famer... if you will.  She loves all manner of embellishments and all that is prissy in nature and all that sparkles and catches the light and every little thing that is frilly and pink and poufy and fanciful.

As a little girl, Blair seemed indifferent to what everyone else was doing and went about her own way.  If all the girls on the playground were under the slide talking, you'd find Blair on the swings, because, well, she so loved to swing!  When all of her 11 year old friends were rolling their eyes at dolls and trading them in for more mature pastimes, Blair was unmoved by their pressure and continued her close relationship with Malibu Barbie and Movie Star Barbie for another couple of years until SHE was ready for the transition.  She's never felt the need to be somewhere she didn't want to be or to change her preferred course just to fit in with the herd. 

As a teenager, she's always taken some good natured ribbing for her consistent desire to err on the side of dressy.  Everyone in the room can be in gym shorts and sneakers and Blair will come in confidently in her cute, little dress and heels with hair and makeup done just because that's how she feels happiest.  No matter what those around her are donning, she wears what makes her......Blair. 

This week, we decided to eat at one of the local Mexican restaurants before heading across the street to get a little exercise on some walking trails.  A woman stopped her as we came into the restaurant and commented, "Your hair is fixed so beautifully!  Are you going to be in a pageant today?"  "No, ma'am", Blair chuckled...."I'm just going to exercise."  It doesn't matter where she's going, she's going to get all dolled up to go there!   

We found that when she got into high school and became more independent, the same headstrong, confident, autonomous spirit that kept her on the swings instead of among the masses as a little girl, may have proved to be the same quality that kept her from some of the temptations that beckon teens.  
  
We should encourage the uniqueness that God has placed in our children.  The characteristics that we find so unique in them may be the very ones that He will use, later in their lives, to help them live out their purpose and keep their heart close to Him.  He knows what each of His children will face in life and has equipped them to face it.  He knows what He wants each of His children to accomplish for Him and He's given them the tools to accomplish it.  As a parent, I don't ever want to try to take things out of the bag that God has packed specifically for my kid's journey of life because of ideas I may have about what they should be like.  God knows more about where Blair and Carson are going and what they'll need when they get there.             

I know that He must have something special for Blair to do that will require her to turn her God-given blind eye to what everyone else is doing.  I have no doubt that He custom made her with an important purpose in mind.