Every once and a while as a parent - your child does something that reflects the essence of who they are, encompassed in moment.
Eliana had such a moment this evening. Both our kids have chores that they are asked to take care of. This evening I asked Eliana to line up the shoes on the back porch. She came in a few minutes later and stated that cleaning up shoes is fun. I didn't think to much of it at the time. She is normally a happy little thing and I had no doubt she completed her chore but this evening I found out why she had fun doing it.
The best way to describe it is that she did it her way. When I saw it I saw a part if herself in her little mini self expression. Each pair if shoes were lined up neatly with one another but not one pair was next to the other. She had some under the deck chairs. Others on the steps and the rest randomly paired all over the deck. This would have been how Gabriel would have paired them if they were scattered in the first place - the part that makes me smile even thinking about it now is that all the shoes were piled by the door. It makes me smile because my daughter is so delightfully and seemly arbitrarily random. I know though that each pair was deliberate - a part of her plan and she had fun doing it. She found joy in the little moments. I hope as a mother I can help raise her to be who she was created to be and not just someone that fits into a mold.
Lord help me.
