I love Emma, no, you're right, my daughter's name is Kate, but Emma is her BFF. I really mean that, they are closer than almost any two girls I've ever seen in my life. To be honest, not only can I not imagine Kate without Emma, I can't imagine me without Emma. She makes me smile. Just seeing the back of her head brings a smile to my face. She is the tiniest little thing. She and Kate are only 30 minutes apart in age but Kate is a whole head taller. They have almost everything in common and it's amazing to me to watch them together.
The other night Kate went to Emma's for dinner. We went out and left the big boys in charge. I told Sam that Kate would be home shortly but by 8pm she was still not home. I called Emma's mom and she had totally forgotten Kate was there. That's the definition of Kate and Emma. They are so happy together that they make everyone else around them happy, whether it's because they play so quietly and happily together or because they are just so much fun to be with.
Today Emma came over for a couple hours. As is typical for them, they immediately found some clothes to change into so they looked like twins. Oh, if you saw them you'd laugh at the thought! Of course, they had another plan, they were writing a song. They ran outside to the trampoline and in about 20 minutes they came in with a song written on a piece of paper. They wanted me to read it and as I did, I noticed a real obvious chorus. I asked them how the song sounded and they didn't have any melody for it yet so I added one of my own. It was actually pretty good and Emma just laughed and laughed. Kate laughed too but through her laughs she giggled "Mom, stop, you are embarrassing me!" Normally, that would have stopped me in my tracks and really almost hurt my feelings but I could tell that whatever embarrassment she was feeling it wasn't severe - she had her bff with her and Emma felt perfectly at home here with us. They just continued to laugh and skip off to Kate's room. Within minutes they announced they were going to Emma's. Then they bopped out the door and down the street.
When Rebekah died and I found out I was pregnant with Josh, my mom was sad for me. Oh she knew my little baby boy would be beautiful and wonderful and fun but she insisted that there was nothing like a little girl. I found that hard to believe because all I knew were little boys and I adored my little boys. I was sad that I didn't have a daughter to raise but I couldn't imagine that they would be so different that she was actually sad I didn't have one in my life. Of course, God knew exactly what He wanted to do all along and having a daughter was part of His plan for me. Just months after Josh's 4th birthday Kate was born. And almost immediately I learned the differences between the genders. As my dear friend Cindy, the mother of 4 daughters, said to me "Girls will rock your world!". And she was right.
I can't imagine my life without her. She adds something to my life that I can't explain. One thing that excites me is how much we enjoy being together. She is becoming quite a pal to me. I miss her when she's gone and am excited to see her walk through the door on her way home from school. I love the person she is becoming and delight in the comments other mothers and her teachers at school and church say about her: she's sweet, kind, welcoming to all new students. She plays well and has compassion on those who she thinks are being left out. She's polite and respectful and they all love having her around. Notice they don't say that she's cute, popular, or oh, so talented... although she is cute and talented, popular is not an impressive thing to me. I am delighted in how others view her, she makes me so excited to see what God's got in store for her, she's got what it takes to follow Him to the ends of the earth. I hope that's what she wants to do.
Had we not been blessed with Kate, I wouldn't fully understand my mom's sadness for me. But now, I understand what she was feeling. My daughter is doing for me what her daughter did for her. Although I think having Christ in common takes my relationship with Kate much deeper, my mom and I love each other very much and we really enjoy being together. I hope Kate and I don't have the friction that my mom and I had when I was a preteen but a lot of the struggles she and I had are not part of the life that Kate and I share. I am thankful that Kate has the examples of her brothers to watch. Three much older boys who love their parents and are just as happy to hang out with us as they are with their buds. Of course they will choose their buds over us if that decision has to be made (a decision I think is just fine - we like their buds) but they don't feel a constant pull away from home. And they have rarely had lapses in judgement to the degree of disrespecting their parents. I pray that she sees what a wonderful family she is a part of and delights in us as she grows into adolescence as we will delight in her. God's got quite an adventure planned for her, I can't wait to see where He leads her.
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