Heart Song

I am the type of mom that wants her children to be dressed prettily, hair neat, fingernails clean and short, and teeth brushed. These things I can control. These things I make sure are in proper order before my girls leave the house, but what I most desire from them I cannot control I can only hope. I can only hope that when they get to school out of my reach and the teacher calls for their attention that they oblige. I can only hope that when other kids bully a lesser kid that my girl will stand up for them. I can only hope that when hard decisions need to be made that my baby will make the good choice. These are the things that I talk to my girls about at home and then stand back, far back, and have to wait and see.

Today, I am proud. I am fist pumping double-back cartwheel proud. Hailey, my eight year old, goes to school with hidden shoes in her backpack that I told her not to wear. She changes at school and puts on her approved shoes before she returns home. Why am I proud of this? I am not, but I don't care because when I caught her wearing those forbidden flip-flops during a surprise lunch visit I also got a tap on the shoulder from a little out of place looking girl. "Are you Hailey's mom?" "Yes, I am." "I want you to know that she is a really sweet girl. She is always nice to me." Two boys sitting close to her are whispering mean things about her and she pretends not to hear them. "Thank you for telling me this." I say. "Why? It's just the facts."She says. This happened about three weeks ago and put a big smile on my face.

Since then I have been made aware of how much integrity, grace, and devotion my little girl owns. She has been privy to potentially hurtful and embarrassing information against a little girl (separate from the one afore mentioned) at school. On her own she made the decision to form a pact with the others who also knew that they would not say anything and to try extra hard to protect and be friends with this little girl. That's my girl!! If that wasn't enough just yesterday Hailey had a very difficult decision to make- one of those choices that ends in either broken heartedness or heaviness of guilt and she made the right choice. She is sad, but she is so right. She is proud of her choice and I am so proud of her. I wish that she would not be faced with such hardships at such an early age, but I can't see how she could have managed any better if she were older. She has inspired me to try and make the right choices regardless of their difficulty. I was not so good at eight as she- so thank you God for this beautiful person you have allowed in my life. Keep her strong and give her peace.

Ciao, Areli