Creating Forward // October 2023

Girl at the Mirror

Girl at the Mirror, Norman Rockwell, 1954

Norman Rockwell really knows how to tell a story in a painting. I love all the details present, showing the unique stage of a young girl growing up in innocence. When Isla turned 8, we got her a Caboodle, and I knew it would be a fun twist on Rockwell’s painting. Rockwell’s painting points out the conflicting feeling’s a girl faces growing up - and that I remember all too well. The doll appears to be recently played with, then quickly tossed aside. Looking in the magazine at the role models, brushing her hair, contemplating the already and not yet of becoming.

I have to say, I relate more to the painting and the dilemma of growing up than I see in my photograph. The girl in Rockwell’s painting has a subtle expression of questioning - a subtlety I remember. Still wanting to play with dolls, and wanting to grow up.

My daughter is still only 8, so young still. But she also has a confidence and exudes joy that I admire so much. I see that present in this image - yes, she is growing up, but her heart, joy, and confidence sing through the image to me still. They remind me what I want to nurture in her as she approaches adolescence. They remind me what I want to nurture for myself.