I’m sitting in Clay’s, La Jolla which is the rooftop lounge at the La Jolla Hotel. The west facing wall is lined with windows and the sun is setting. The whole sky is a beautiful pink, orange, purple, blue. (Yes, of course, before you ask, my close friend, Twitter is here and I’ve been Twittering away.)

I went to La Jolla Shores beach with my three year old daughter today.  She thinks she’s a mermaid.  Really.  We were meeting some friends and although I was wearing  a swimsuit I hadn’t planned on swimming.  However, the mermaid had different plans.  Not only did she want to swim, she wanted to swim in gigantic ten foot waves while holding onto me with water splashing over our heads.  Now, I’m a confident swimmer and she is too for her age but I have to say I was a bit surprised at how daring she had become.  I knew we were safe so I decided to let her determine how far she was willing to go.  Each time a wave would pass, she would let go of me and swim around alone until she saw a swell approaching again.  It was amazing.  I was in love with my daughter all over again and in complete awe of her self assurance.  About the time I started to hear music in my head, we got blasted with a wave that churned us both under water.  She burst into huge tears and it was time to get out.  We were fine and she was done but oh boy what a lesson for me.  Can I possibly ever be as brave as she is?  Am I pushing my own limits of courage like this little three year old? If I’m not, how can I possibly become the role model that she needs to keep her stimulated?  Oh, man, have I got my work cut out for me.  I drove home thinking what a wonderful gift she is for my own personal development.  Although I’ve read volumes about how children are our greatest teachers, I guess I got it on much deeper level today. Thanks for the lesson, Miss Mermaid.