Tammy Letherer Video of “The Girl I Mean To Be”
I’m sharing a video of my daughter singing “The Girl I Mean to Be” from The Secret Garden for several reasons. First, of course, is being proud as can be of her. She sang this for an audition in Ohio last week and knocked ’em dead.
More than that, though, is that this song speaks so powerfully to the little girl I once was:
I need a place where I can hide,
Where no one sees my life inside,
Where I can make my plans, and write them down
So I can read them.
A place where I can bid my heart be still
And it will mind me.
A place where I can go when I am lost,
And there I’ll find me.
I loved The Secret Garden and, like Mary, dreamed of a place where I could find and figure out myself before showing anyone who I was. It wasn’t until much later in life that I realized I find myself when I share myself. I’ve learned that the girl I mean to be is not lost or alone. And she doesn’t want to hide.
My daughter inspires me with this song and by the fact that, at age 9, she knows what she wants to do with her talent, and she’s brave enough to go after her dreams.
What is it that you mean to be? In your most secret, quiet times, when no one says to go or stay, what calls to you? If you wrote down the plans of your heart, could you, would you, read them out loud?
