To many the girl I write about today is my Mini Me. A pre-teen littered with many of my physical features and namesake. But in all honesty she could not be more her own person. She actually favors her dad quite a bit…the contrast coloring throws most people off, but she was blessed with many of his features and personality traits.
Lately some days she is cursed with her super fun pre-teen tenacity but she could not possibly be a kinder, wiser girl. Bean is one of those people that is destined for nothing but good. She is a rare soul that just sees people for people. Exteriors mean nothing to her…color, awkwardness, wealth, popularity, age and intelligence. When the world around her is scrambling to be in cliques, grasping onto any form of similarity they can, she just tries to friend them all. We can walk into any place full of complete strangers and we will leave with her having a new best friend planning a sleep over. This is where she is clearly not my Mini Me. Although I now hold a pretty confident personality, as a child I was stifled by shyness. And even today, what some see as reserved, snobbery, or even confidence, it is me testing the playing field and determining if and when I will let down the guard. I envy her ability to just be her, not caring for a mili second what the world around her thinks, and trusting that everyone around her sees her for her and will be kind…this she got from her Dad.
She is all girl. A lover of fashion, make-up, arts and crafts, drawn to small children & babies, and just like her mommy will rescue any animal out there. I need her to be a girl…I have two boys that are more boy than this mommy can handle some days. I love that I can talk “boys” with her, go see Twilight together, both “ooh” over the same dress, fight over who gets the new catalogs first, and wade together through a field at sunset so I can try a new shot.
Many days I take her strength, age and independence for granted. She moves helpfully along in the daily chaos of two younger (torturing) brothers, last year of elementary school, 3-4 businesses (loosing count) and two extremely hard working parents without barely getting noticed. These are the days I feel guilty and beat myself up. I am eternally indebted to her patience, strength and understanding.
With a wave of change on the horizon Bean is my new best friend. Petrified of the day that she will be gone living her own life…I am chained to my desire to not blindly lose another day with her.
She is 11 today. She is my muse, my strength, my idol. I adore her more than she probably knows, and cherish every ounce of her personality she has (even the ones that challenge me).
Happy Birthday Bean.
A few images of her and her best friend from a couple of months ago.
