Mia, my conclusion might simply be that you are easy to buy
for. But I think it stretches beyond
that. You exude joy and love and
wonder. I see your zest for life in everything that
surrounds me. In even the most ordinary
of stores I find treasures that I know will light up your face.
Sometimes your joy and zest for life is under
appreciated. You have the unfortunate
position in our family as being a morning person. So does your dad. Unfortunately, though, dad leaves the house
at 7am, leaving you and your joy to contend with the likes of Toby and me who
are NOT morning people. It’s a daily struggle
for you to keep your positive nature unscathed. Sometimes, while Toby tries his
best to swallow yoghurt through his scowl, you sing boisterously and bounce on
your stool beside him. This doesn’t go
over well. Other times, you enthusiastically
ask me questions, questions and more questions from the side of my bed as I beg
my eyes to open. This also, is often not
met by the response you so desire.
We have yet to tame the enthusiastic joy of Morning Mia.
Other mornings you bounce downstairs and surprise me by
making lunches for yourself and Toby.
Granted, a wee bit of correcting must then take place (your ideal lunch
would consist of fruit, fruit roll ups, cookies and a chocolate) but it’s the
enthusiasm that counts.
You approach almost everything in life with the same
enthusiasm: a majestic grin fast paced determination and eternal optimism. I say ALMOST everything because we have
discovered a few things that do not evoke this predictable behaviour: being
asked to come home from Jack’s house, being denied a play date because of
Toby’s hockey schedule, and Friday night Clippers.
I get it. You’re
tired on Friday. The last thing that I
would want to do on Friday after a long week of being an eternal hardworking
optimist is to change into a bathing suit and go swimming. You fight us on this EVERY week. Unless jack is going and then, of course, you
go joyfully and without discussion.
The other Friday, Daddy
put his foot down and you got the lecture on Commitment and Following Through With
Things and Being Part of a Team blah blah blah... Though this often works on Toby, you were
having NONE of it. You grumbled ALL the
WAY to the pool, which was a full 3 minutes of my life I will never get back. It was just SO not you that I was actually
concerned and felt immensely guilty. An hour later when I was back to pick you
up the old Mia was back. After your
shower (you very independently dress, undress and shower yourself – something
your brother could have NEVER done at your age!) you BOUNCED into the car full
of vim and vigour. “WOW, Mommy that was
the BEST SWIMMING LESSON EVER! We went
into the warm pool and played GAMES! It
was SO FUN it was the BEST NIGHT of my LIFE.”
Clearly, though you are old enough to know how to wash your
own hair, you haven’t quite caught on to the art of subtlety. You then went on to tell me that I had had
the right thoughts in my head and that you hadn’t. You had had “WRONG THOUGHTS about swimming”
and then you thanked me for making you go.
Wow. I have a feeling
that things aren’t going to go this smoothly when you’re a teenager.
The other night at dinner Toby made us play a game where we
all picked a “Theme song” for our life.
Toby picked “Fight song”. He
finds it relates to what he thinks in his head when he plays hockey. (Obviously.)
Daddy picked “Seasons of Love” from the musical Rent because it reminds
him to make the most of every moment. I
chose “Love is Louder” by Craig Cardiff because its message is that at the end
of the day the only thing that matters is love. And finally it was your turn. You chose the opening instrumental piece from
the movie Inside Out. You said it was
from the part in the film when Joy was born and you feel like you can relate to
Joy because you are happy. We sat there,
all 4 of us in silence as we listened to this wonderful piece of music. It was beautiful and soft, and hopeful, and
joyful. It was you in a piece of
music. What a clever girl you are, to
have picked something so uniquely perfect as your theme song.
I hope for you, sweet girl, that this will always be the
music that you hear in your soul. I hope
the world gives back to you the joy you so eagerly give to it.
When Daddy and I got married many people gave speeches. They told stories that were long and funny and
filled with anecdotes about us. All
except for Grandpa Boyd. A man of
literature and infinite wisdom, Grandpa Boyd skipped the verbosity and said
only one sentence – a quotation from his favourite author William Blake.
“Exuberance is beauty.”
It is one of the greatest gratitudes of my life to know that
I have a daughter that can live up to his prophecy. Happy 7th Birthday, Miss Mia.
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| You and Papa enjoying a game of Chocolate Tic Tac Toe at the Teddington last Weekend |
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| Your 7th Birthday Party at The Paint Bar |
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