Our youngest, the baby of the family, our Audrey, has the keys to a wonderful place that we have the privilege to visit from time to time.
Mickey and Minnie and the gang have the wonderful world of Disney. Peter Pan has Neverland.
Our wonderful, beautiful daughter has “Audreyland”. We have referred to Audreyland as a place where there are butterflies and unicorns, no chores and often inhabited by only one resident.
Audreyland has magical powers and after Audrey has been there for a while and she visits our world, she brings the magic with her. She sees the world from such a different angle than the rest of us. She sings ALL. THE. TIME. She smiles at seemingly nothing but we know there is something.
Often, when we are all together as a family, she shrinks back and is the forgotten family member who is content to sit and listen and watch. JoAnne and I have often wondered if she is daydreaming or actually listening to the conversation around her.
Many times we have wondered where her mind is. Here are a few examples:
Here is a post from JoAnne’s facebook account from January of 2012, when Audrey was 6 years old:
Tonight after both girls were tucked-in and presumed asleep, we heard “DADDY!” from where we were working in the basement. “DADDY“.. pause”..”DADDY” ..pause.. “DADDY” ..pause.. Over & over. Lee went upstairs and swung their door open and said “WHAT!” Audrey sweetly said “when are we going on a picnic?” He said “honey, when it warms up.” She said, “Okay. Goodnight.” I would LOVE to visit Audreyland!
When she gets away to Audreyland for a bit, she seems to be closer to the world around her than the rest of us. The littlest things give her joy and pleasure.
Even today, on her 17th birthday, she went out and bought herself flowers. She likes the pretty things. The things that all of us should enjoy more of. In fact, we could all learn from her “stop and smell the roses philosophy.”
Here is another facebook post, this one from 2013:
tonight we were all sitting in our seats preparing to watch Levi in a local play and Audrey turned to me and said, “MOM! I swallowed a skittle!”
I replied, “You will be okay”
She looked at us with her head cocked to the side and said “I know I will be okay. I really wanted to chew that skittle and enjoy it!”
From enjoying skittles to singing her lungs out, she seems to have a way of taking in all the little things that life gives us and soak them in at a different level than others,
When everyone else is zigging, she tends to zag
Here is another post from Facebook when Audrey was around 7 or 8 years old.
JoAnne: I was putting Aurdrey to bed and said “goodness, you have lots of miscellaneous pajamas on your bed.”
A-Who is that?
Me-No I said miscellaneous pajamas.
A- I don’t know her.
Me – I wish I could visit Audrey land sometimes. Everything there is wonderful.
When other people visit Audreyland, they are so welcomed and loved that you can’t tell who is who:
Facebook post from 2014:
Audrey sat on our bed last night and had this to say: “Mom, when I wear white socks and someone is sitting beside me that is also wearing white socks, I get confused with which foot is my leg “.
My daughter NEVER ceases to add to her reputation of living in a land full of butterflies and bluebirds – a land that has but one human inhabitant. This land is called “Audreyland”.
Apparently, in Audreyland, trash and clothes and plates and cups and mops and shoes etc… are decorations of the most beautiful kind and add to the beauty of the landscape. It is a land where you can’t tell your foot from someone else’s, either.
As she gets older, Audreyland gets older with her
We have noticed that she still finds the best in everyone. She loves her people hard. She is crazy loyal and she still sings her lungs out every single day!
Audrey is a joy. As you get older and have to live in a fallen world, and world full of teenagers and adults, your perspective of the world changes, too. So, Audreyland has fewer butterflies, but that’s okay. She has more friends who love her as much as she loves them. Imaginary butterflies, rainbows and unicorns are being replaced by real laughter, real friendships and real people.
But on occassion, when she doesn’t know anyone is watching, and she has her music playing loud, those who are blessed enough to be around when it happens, you can still see the twirling, spinning, singing – utterly happy to be in an imaginary world – girl travel back to Audreyland and get recharged.
