Dancing with Cinderella

She spins and she sways to whatever song plays

Without a care in the world

And I'm sitting here wearing the weight of the world on my shoulders

It's been a long day, and there's still work to do

She's pulling at me saying, "Dad, I need you"


There's a ball at the castle
And I've been invited
And I need to practice my dancing,
Oh, Please, Daddy, please?

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms.
Because I know something the Prince never knew
Oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don't want to miss even one song
Because all too soon the clock will strike midnight,
And she'll be gone.....


She says he's a nice guy
And I'd be impressed
She wants to know if I approve of the dress
She says Dad the prom is just one week away
And I need to practice my dancing
Oh, Please, Daddy, please?


So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
Because I know something the Prince never knew
Oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don't want to miss even one song
Because all too soon the clock will strike midnight,
And she'll be gone....


Well, she came home today with a ring on her hand
Just glowing and telling us all they had planned
She says, "Dad, the wedding's still six months away,
But I need to practice my dancing"
So, please, Daddy, please?


So, I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms,
Because I know something the Prince never knew
Oh, I will dance with Cinderella,
I don't want to miss even one song
Because all too soon the clock will strike midnight,
And she'll be gone....
----Words and Music by Stephen Curtis Chapman
He wrote those words after losing one of his daughters in an accident when she was five years old. He knew the power of those sweet moments between daddies and daughters. We know that here, too. The dances that will never happen perhaps make the dances that do all that much sweeter.

Daddy and Miss Mouse went on a "date" to a Butterfly Ball last Friday evening. Miss Mouse had a countdown going for weeks. Weeks. This event was perhaps the ultimate in cuteness and sweetness. A room full of cuddly bunnies and ducks could not have surpassed the amount of "sweet" at the Ramada last Friday. There were proud daddies and adoring daughters lining the entire ballroom. I was excited to have captured this shot showing Miss Mouse's obvious admiration for her Daddy.

They not only danced the evening away together; they also went through a grand march which is shown above where Daddy is introducing himself and his little girl. My heart melted at how tightly she held his hand as they went through their "parade". I'm told Miss Mouse went all out and danced on a chair at one point. She told me that "they played some wild music and some calming music". Daddy told me he had to reign her in as she was flailing her arms and legs around so wildly with her eyes closed, dancing her little heart out. That must have been for one of the "wild" dances. Aaahhh, sweetness.

I have a Daddy who danced with his two little cinderellas anytime they asked. Now my two little cinderellas have a Daddy like that, too. He's creating very big shoes for some prince to fill someday!

*As a sidenote, when the song that I have written out above was played at the dance, I am told most of the men had to, at the very least, swallow really hard. On the way home, Miss Mouse noticed three deer (displaced from their riverside homes due to the water, no doubt) on the street and commented, "Oh, Daddy, I wish you had your gun, so you could shoot them. Then we could have meat!" Apparently, that was the tear-shedding time for my Prince Charming (though I just got a sideways look when I asked how the song was for him....). The funniest part, though, is that Miss Mouse didn't so much want them to be shot just to be shot, but she wanted them to be shot more to make her Daddy happy and to eat them!