My Girl........

Today we attended stake conference, and for anyone who has ever attended that meeting with four small children alone you can appreciate that just attending is an act of faith. I have no idea what was actually said. I'm sure it was good.

I did have a moment about half way through the meeting where I looked over and caught a glimpse of my Olivia sitting reverently, listening to the speaker, with her little arms folded. It made me catch my breath. Just the way she sat there....mature, quiet and thoughtful. I just stared at her. I've been begging her to do it for years, and suddenly she does. And it hurts a little, not as much as the other 3 kicking me, but just a little. And it makes me smile, because I see who she is(y'know, big picture, she just gets "it") and I can sense what is inside of her.....and it's big.
Spirited children change the world.
I have to remind myself of that often.

Tonight we sat in the living room and played guitar together for a long time. It's one of our favorite things to do. She is better at memorizing the music. I am better at keeping the beat. It just works. So much of my time is spent mothering her, I'm so grateful for the time I get to spend just being with her. Because I like her so much. I like that she doesn't laugh when my voice cracks in the middle of a song. I like that she doesn't think it's weird that when no one is looking I pretend I'm Taylor Swift. I like that she can talk to me with just the expression on her face and know exactly what I said back by the expression on mine. I like that annoyed half smile she gives me when I correct her.

The girl's got a backbone, she knows who she is, she came with an agenda and most of the time she's not the least bit teachable. But she delights me.
Every single day.