One such moment happened on Wednesday night after church. One of Wendy's favorite things about church is running in the auditorium afterwards. It's a privilege she only gets when she's been good, and she really loves it - the freedom, the speed, the joy of it all. We let her do it because it's in an out-of-the-way area, so she won't mow down any little old ladies, and she's perfectly safe and confined.
I watched her run on Wednesday night, and this is what I saw:
A faded patchwork sundress
Tanned shoulders
Sturdy legs (bruised & mosquito-bitten)
Arms flung out to the sides
Head tilted back
Pigtails streaming behind her like twin contrails
Blue eyes snapping & sparkling
Wide smile, full of joy and life and laughter and exuberance and WENDY.
I hope I always remember that picture.
******
Last fall, we got The Wild Little Horse, by Rita Gray, from the Imagination Library. It quickly became one of Wendy's favorite books, since it is about a "baby howwise." In reading it to her over and over again, I began to think of it as a book about Wendy - my very own Wild Little Horse.
"And now he's off, racing past,
running, running, running fast!
He runs with the wind held in his mane,
a wild horse, no longer tame.
GALLIPITY-LIP GALLIPITY LOP
This wild horse might never stop!"
My own wild little horse is strong, and independent, and smart, and beautiful, and I wonder how she will change the world.
3 comments:
Beautifully written! That is definitely a memory that will be etched in your mind's eye. Doesn't your heart just burst when you watch her?
I can imagine it so easily! You've done a great job of decribing it - no picture necessary. She sounds like such a cutie pie. I always laugh at your Tweets about her antics. :) I can see why your Dad loved this one.
Speaking of imagery! ;)
Funny how we both wrote about memories today but in so very different ways.
I can just picture her running around the auditorium too. I hope you remember it always. :)
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