I have truly amazing kids. (I know, I know every mother says this. And it makes my declaration no less valid.)
Truly, I could write an entire book about my feelings about Dazzling Daughter’s poetry, stories, songs, and other channelings of the creative process. She wrote this last night in about five minutes:
The Civil War
Dripping threads of Ruby Reds;
Tears like crystal making their own rivers,
Rolling down the cheeks
of the Blue and Gray that day.
Missing sons and fathers,
Missing nephews and even brothers;
Marching to the beat of one drum
To their death, they fall numb.
Red, Blue and White
Flyover you that night
He speaks in sorrow, He speaks in honor
Thanking you without a ponder.
- Dazzling Daughter 4/22/09
The above poem, which I thought was deeply moving, was written for a class project on the Civil War. As someone who’s only read what’s in her books at school about this horrific event in our nation’s history, she gets it.
She would.
One of these days I really have to share more of the wisdom that has come out of this little girl’s mouth since she could talk. Wait…I take that back. One of the most profound was pre-verbal!
Anyway, I diverge.
I’m really feeling the proud mother thing today. Number one child, Best Birthday Gift Ever is preparing to graduate from the University of Texas next month and I couldn’t be more happy for her at arriving at this amazing point in her life. Her younger siblings Elder Sun, Dazzling Daughter, and Nuclear Sun are on their way to spend the weekend with her in Austin where they will be on her Relay for Life team. She is interning in public relations with the American Cancer Society and has taken on the Relay for Life project with the gusto of a young woman that brings excellence to everything she does. The younger kids are totally psyched to be spending the weekend with her.
Best Birthday Gift Ever doesn’t appear as much in my musings as the other three at home with me right now. And this is for good reason. She prefers it this way and I try to honor this as much as possible. Even so there are just some milestones a mom can’t keep to herself.
Thank you for your indulgence. I just wanted to express a moment of unadulterated joy in the life of a woman who feels really blessed to have four such beautiful beings sharing her life!
