Reba's poem is about the gap between who other people remember her as and who she has become. The people around her still picture a little girl in a bow-covered dress, but the speaker is now a teenager in love, kissing her boyfriend. She says they needed to see this to understand that she isn't that child anymore.
The feeling is mixed. She wishes she could go back to being innocent, and she apologizes that they had to watch her grow up so fast. Yet she also says she loves the person she has become, even though that person was shaped by being hurt. She links her carelessness and recklessness to having been shielded as a child, which suggests she is reacting against that protection.
The mood is wistful but defiant. The bows and matching dress stand for childhood, while the wind image gives her new life a sense of freedom. By the end she sounds settled, claiming her love and her freedom without regret.