Posted on 02/14/2015 1:50:44 PM PST by NYer
Valentines Day is a big deal around our house. Our first child was born on Valentines, and she loves all things pink, pretty, and frilly. And chocolate.
She loves her princess shoes, sparkles, fancy hair doo-dads (shes also asking me for hair rollers, and shes only five), hearts, ribbons, make-up, purses, clothes (the more sequins the better). And chocolate. Did I mention that she really likes chocolate?
How such a bubbling passion for feminine farrago took hold in her heart is something of a mystery to us. Our family tends to be more of a low-key, sweatshirts and sneakers kind of crew. My wife doesnt own a purse, or wear make-up, and the last time she felt the pinch of high heels upon her feet was our wedding day.
But somehow our daughter learned the difference between flats and pumpsand has strong opinions about both. And for her, Valentines Day is about as close to perfect as any day outside of Christmas morning can get. It is the annual apex of pink on the yearly calendar, and as such fills her with glittery joy.
Throw in her birthday, and her cup runneth over. And for her birthday, she is all about . . . space. As in the final frontier, not closet.
I know. I didnt see that one coming either.
But right along with her enthusiasm for twirling dresses and pink parasols, she also has a deep and abiding passion for . . . three stage rockets, Apollo moon landers, black holes, ringed planets, supernovas, and the distant reaches of our ever spinning and expanding universe.
Neither my wife nor I are space or science aficionados. Dont get me wrongwe love modern dentistry. But we dont subscribe to Popular Mechanics or talk about the latest technological marvels around the breakfast table. And we dont have any space movies or books. We dont have telescopes, microscopes, or even stethoscopes. In fact, outside of a sort of strange neighbor dog next door, there isnt anything with even the faintest hint of the extra-terrestrial about it anywhere around our house.
So how my daughter developed her love for space is another mystery. But love it she does, with a burning zeal. As soon as she could start checking her own books out of the library, she didnt bring home picture books of cuddly animals, but of ice bound planets orbiting distant stars. Shes initiated many conversations with me about the existence of aliensand she has strong opinions on that topic, too.
On the way to school in the morning she wants to talk about vacuum and the potential dangers it poses to orbital, manned space stations. And for her birthday, she wants an astronaut cake, and she wants the house decorated in solar system swagincluding green aliens.
She also wants pink hearts.
I kid you not. She wants both pink hearts and green aliens for her birthday. She actually askedand this was her own ideaif we could decorate half the living room in the adornments of Valentines Day, and the other half with objects from the cosmos so that it will look like a picture from the Hubble Telescope.
The mixture should make for interesting Facebook photos.
So thats my little girl: one part fashion princess, one part Buzz Armstrong. I dont know how God put together such an intriguing combination, but Im glad He did.
Scripture tells us:
. . . all men are of clay,
for from earth man was formed;
Yet with His great knowledge the Lord makes men unlike;
in different paths He has them walk.
* * *
Like clay in the hands of a potter,
to be molded according to His pleasure,
so are men in the hands of their Creator,
to be assigned by Him their function.
Sirach 33, 10-13
What God intends for our daughter, I have no idea. Maybe shell be the first person to walk on the moonin a strappy set of sparkly heels. But whatever it is, God has a plan for heras He does for all of usand God made her as a one-of-a-kind, just the way He wanted her to be. Which is the way God makes each and every person. And that is out of this world.
Each child is an amazing creation; a gift from God. Happy Valentine’s Day ping!
Just look at how creatively he told us about his wonderful daughter.
She sounds like a wonderful little girl. One of my daughters loves all things space that much.
That was a sweet story, thanks for sharing it!
Bump to send to my grandaughter.
When my granddaughter was about 7 she said in very formal tone of voice, “Grandma, I am so not into princesses anymore.” That was a complete thought but of course I had to ask, “What are you into?” Pirates. But she still at 14 loves fairy tales. When asked in a book on faith to share something true that she believed in that you couldn’t see, she said “make believe and fairy tales.” I’m reading Peter Kreeft’s book on Tolkien and he agrees with her.
Each human being is special. This little one would have us laughing a lot around here. Children with a big sense of self and opinion, just tickles me.
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