An Education in Love
She likes to google "inspiring quotes" on the iPad, pull up images of her search, and sit with her composition book while writing quote after quote into her notebook. I think she is going to end up with a pretty cool journal when she is done with it. Often times she'll stop and read the quotes out loud to me, like, "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent . . . ", and follow it with a, "Wow . . . that's pretty deep, Mom."
Last week, she was really interested in the words of Eleanor Roosevelt. I think that's pretty cool for an 8 year old (well, she's just 28 days away from 9, so I had better set that straight . . . you know, someday she'll read this and argue that she was 9!) I digress. So, she wanted to know all about Mrs. Roosevelt. Katie couldn't believe that she was the wife of a President. I couldn't believe how interested she was.
I love these precious moments I have with my girls right now, when I can actually turn off the to-do lists in my head and just BE in the moment with them. I love that in the middle of all of the teaching, I, too, am learning. I love that they would rather be kneeling by the coffee table with a pad of paper, a set of crayola markers, and me . . . instead of doing anything else. And I love that my daughters are reading things that inspire them, and talking about it.
A couple of days ago, Katie seemed to have forgotten all about these inspiring words of wisdom, though, when an argument with her very best friend turned ugly on the bus ride home from school. Katie ran into the house in a rather dramatic and distraught 3rd grader way, and fled to her bedroom while dumping her backpack and lunch bag along the way. When I went into her bedroom, she was face down into her pillow, crying aloud and telling me that she did a terrible thing.
"Mom, I said something terrible to Megan," she told me.
"Tell me what happened," I told her, rubbing her back in comfort.
"I can't . . . I just can't." She sighed that big, long, deep crying sigh, and started, "I wanted to sit with Abbie on the way home, and Megan got upset with me and said she hated me, and then I said something awful back at her. I told her she was mean and I could just stick a pin in her and she cried. She cried all the way home, and I cried, and she just ran into her house, and I ran all the way here, and I don't think she will ever speak to me again. I feel just awful, Mom. It was terrible."
Ah, to be eight . . . when the worry of bills and jobs and grown up stress is just so far from your reality, and when an argument between you and your best friend can truly seem like the end of the world.
After a long talk, and a reminder of there being nothing she could say that would have me love her any less, Katie decided to make a card for her friend to apologize for her words. And luckily, her friend did the same.
Crisis averted.
It's so great, isn't it, that we can learn from those who have come before us. That even in the big picture of this life, we really all have words to express how we are feeling . . . when we are happy, or when we are sad. I'm so glad that we can use our words to make each other feel better. And I am so glad that my girls aren't afraid to do that.
My favorite Eleanor Roosevelt quote that we came across last week?
The giving of love is an education in itself.
Do you have any favorites? Leave them in the comments . . . I'd love to know.
Dearest sweet Leanne, this is realy such an inspiring post. It is truly great we all learned from those that came before us. THat is a beautiful quote from Eleanor Roosevelt. Have a lovely merry happy friday and love to you!
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