I do, too

There she was, heading off into life at the speed of sound. She wasn't that little blonde I grew to love many years ago. She wasn't that little blonde who was such an instinctive and good softball player from the moment I bought her a glove. She wasn't that soccer player (gag, gag) who went out because her boyfriend did and once scored six goals in a match. 

She wasn't that stricken woman who lost her husband to a tragedy nine years ago Wednesday. 

No, she was the mature, wonderful woman who was heading off into life without me. That's the way this stuff goes, I'm afraid. We Dads do our best, and then we let them go.

But I couldn't let her go without mentioning how much I thank God that she found someone she could head off into life with. 

When we transferred from the New Orleans area a year ago, the thing that really, really bothered me was how she was going to get along with her two boys and all they do in terms of school and sports. Turns out, God had something for her all along.

So, there she goes off into life, with all its struggles and happinesses. 

As she goes on, and time does what time most assuredly does, I pray she and he will be blessed with patience and with loyalty and with love.

And I pray that she stay anchored in faith.

The Bible says: 

1. Let her learn early in life that to obey You, God, is the best way to the life her heart truly desires (1 Samuel 15:22).

2. May she find comfort in Your ability, God, to reach her, hold her and rescue her (2 Samuel 22:17-18).

3. Let her find confidence in You, God, even when hard times come and she doesn’t know what to do, by keeping her eyes fixed on You (2 Chronicles 20:12).

4. May she keep herself under control and not give full vent to people and situations that anger her (Proverbs 29:11).

5. Let her walk in the security of Your assigned worth to her. Give her a strong work ethic and health to accomplish all her tasks. Give her a heart that de#sires to extend her hand to those in need. Protect her for the right husband, a man of respect and godly honor. And let her be a woman of joy and laughter whose Christ-centered character is what makes her most beautiful (Proverbs 31).

We became closer for these past eight years, and that will go away now with her new husband and with our being light years away from them at the top of our state.

But I will never love her more, nor less than when she walked into the area we were doing the wedding and she looked beautiful.

No, she's not my little girl any more. She is his. But nothing will ever take away our time together.

Love you, Shanna.