When our children are first born, many of us vow to document all of their milestone moments. But raising children is a full-time and intense contact sport. It doesn’t always leave a lot of room for free time or creative projects. So those memory books often remain empty.
One father managed to stick to his commitment. He recorded his daughter’s first day of school from kindergarten to senior year of high school. He edited the years of footage into a TikTok video that not only tugs at the heart strings, but reminds us all of how fast time really does fly.
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Every year, Ray Petelin asks his daughter to say and spell her name.
The TikTok begins with a teenager, Elizabeth Petelin, saying and spelling her name. While it may seem like an odd thing for a teenager to do, especially with her own father, it was certainly a much-needed skill before she entered kindergarten.
The video cuts to that day before her first day of school. Then Ray Petelin asks his daughter what she wants to be when she grows up. As the teenage Elizabeth opens her mouth to speak, we go back to the kindergartener who answers: a doctor.
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Elizabeth wanted to be everything from a surgeon to a magician.
Over the years, Elizabeth’s career choices change. One year, she wanted to be a "teacher, a doctor or a magician." The next year, it was "a million things." As an early teen, she said an open heart surgeon. Currently, she wants to be a physical therapist or a nurse.
On the last video, Elizabeth asks her dad if he was going to cry.
Ray concludes each video telling Elizabeth that he and her mother love her very much. On the last video, the one before her senior year, Elizabeth asks her dad, "Are you going to cry?" Ray replies incredulously, "No!"
The video ends with a picture of Elizabeth posted over the word "kindergartener," and another with her laying down over the word "senior."
It’s a simple video but it really gets you. It certainly got the people of TikTok going.
'We are ALL crying,' one user wrote
"'Are you gonna cry?'" one user wrote. "Elizabeth, we are ALL crying.”
Ray confirmed for the people that he did indeed cry. How could he not?! Sadly, for some users the video made them reflect on what they may have missed as children.
"I can’t imaging who I might have been if I had been loved this much," another user shared. The comment was liked over 100,000 times.
Ray is encouraging other parents to document their children doing this as well. "I highly recommend others do this. It’s sad to see them grow up, but exciting to see who they come!" he wrote.
