Yesterday started as a day like any other. You woke up and got yourself dressed. We brushed your teeth and then headed to daycare. I dropped you off and continued on to work to answer emails and sit in meetings and do all the boring things that grown ups do at work.
Around noon, I put aside all my work stuff and pulled out the Kindergarten registration packet that came in the mail 2 weeks ago. I hadn't even opened it yet.
I filled in your name and birthday. Checked off the boxes for female and Caucasian. Then I stacked it all up and put it back in the envelope. Except for one card. One card that asked me to check words off that described you. They were typical personality descriptions...
Outgoing
Shy
Artistic
Thoughtful
Leader
Follower
Loud
Quiet
All of them describe you, but none of them do.
Below the list were three lines that said "Please tell us anything else we need to know about your child."
Three lines? How can I tell them "anything else" in three lines?
How do I explain your unending curiosity? Your need to question everything until you understand it and then question it some more. How your questions actually make me think and wonder "why?"
How do I possibly describe your imagination? Your ideas that I can see forming behind your eyes. Your quiet moments that are suddenly interrupted with "Hey mommy, I have an excellent idea!!!!" Or how you can just be in your own world. A world that is so real and tangible to you that pulling you from it is nearly impossible.
How do I show them your heart? A heart in a tiny little body that is big enough to love the whole world. A heart that is vast enough to become friends with all you meet. A heart that wraps you up and makes you fall in love every single day.
How do I portray a smile that lights up my day or a laugh that infects the room?
How do I do all that and more in three lines? How do I get them ready for you? Not the little girl down the street or the boy next door, but you...just wonderful you?
I thought I should put a check mark next to each word and then write "Ainsley is the most incredible, smart, amazing, beautiful child you will ever have the privilege to know." But I thought that might be overdoing it.
So I checked a few boxes and left the lines blank. They'll just have to see for themselves.
Love,
Mommy
