Normally, I'm not one for watching videos online — in fact, I usually will click out if someone tries to get me to watch one.
But this video is a little different.
A daddy-daughter dance like no other
Before I had even seen a few seconds of the video of a father dancing with his daughter, something I probably see on a daily basis with my own husband and girls, I was bawling my eyes out.
I watched the rest of the video, tears streaming down my face as I tried to hold back those choking sobs that mark a real, ugly cry. Curiously, my 4-year-old watched over my shoulder. "Mom, why is there water coming out of your eyes?" she asked.
Well, the water coming out of my eyes was in response to the beauty of the love shown so clearly from one father to his little girl. The girl in the video is 12-year-old McKenzie Michelle Carey, and she is battling a life-threatening disorder called mitochondria. Because of her condition, McKenzie does not have use of her legs and she cannot speak.
Photo credit: Kenzie Carey/Youtube
Flying high in Dad's arms
But the girl who cannot dance does have the ability to soar. With the help of her father, McKenzie has been entering beauty pageants since she was 5 years old. Her father performs a dance routine on stage with her, lifting her out of her wheelchair and circling gracefully across the stage. I was so humbled following this story. As a mother who typically thinks of beauty pageants as silly at best and harmful at worst, I am blown away by a pageant empowering one beautiful little girl — and inspiring countless others.
The sight of any father loving on his little girl will bring tears to my eyes. But the sight of this father dancing unabashedly to Miley Cyrus while helping his daughter soar high above his head, a smile stretched wide across her face?
That's enough to make you ugly cry in the grocery store parking lot.
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