Her Life Long Wish

Recently, while trying to bring some sort of order to the chaos of Abbie's room, I discovered something important sitting on one of her shelves:

A white piece of paper rolled scroll fashion and secured with a rubber band. On the rubber band, she had fastened two, dangly, gold earrings. I've never seen these earrings before. They aren't mine or hers (I'll have to ask her). On the outside of the scroll, she had written, "My Life Long Wish." To me, the gold earrings further illustrate the importance of the scroll. If this were an ancient Egyptian artifact, decorated richly in gold, it would mean that it must have belonged to someone very important or to signify the importance of the document itself.

That statement, "My Life Long Wish" blows me away. I didn't even know she knew that phrase.

So I looked.

She had drawn a very detailed picture of an animal sanctuary. I know that her dream job is to have her own animal sanctuary someday. We've discussed it extensively. But we usually use the word "dream job" or "what she wants to do when she grows up." I've never heard her call it her "Life Long Wish." The drawing shows all the types of animal habitats her sanctuary will have and the name of her place.

I have yet to sit down with her and ask her about it or have her tell me the story about her creation - I'll probably do it today. I'm glad that she knows what her "Life Long Wish" is at 8 years old. I know that without a doubt she will have this wish.