When was the last time you thought of a bigger goal than your own comfort? When was the last time you took time to protect your wellness and mental happiness? My daughter did each of those in two days straight and inspires me more every day.
My daughter turned 7 years old yesterday. We threw a party for the Morison side for her, since her grandma was in town. We could reconnect the family and celebrate my daughter turning 7 years old. SEVEN. Six sounds so small and child-like still, but 7 years old sounds incredibly old. Little lady sounding. Ten years old will be the next age that bothers me I think. The days fall like water….
…….So she turned 7 years old yesterday. We did our nails and watched a movie in the morning and then spent all afternoon preparing for family to come over. There were a lot of us coming over in the evening. About 15 of us gathered after 5 pm in my small-ish townhouse. Enough of us to make it very hot in the house! I opened the windows despite the smoke from wildfires coming up from Washington and polluting the air outside. We breathed in a little smoky air but stopped sweating and it was worth it. We talked and ate homemade Chinese food (at Izzy’s request). Her cake was a gluten-free pumpkin pie and everyone loved it. After blowing out the candles and eating her dessert, Izzy disappeared for awhile.
We went to ask her a question and she wasn’t there. I found her in her room where she told me she just needed a little alone time. I get that. I was so proud of her!! Instead of melting down or having a sudden outburst, she waited until everyone was distracted and quietly removed herself. I told her it was fine, and when she was ready maybe she could come down again for a bit.
And she did.
She would disappear for a bit and reappear periodically for the remainder of the night. It was getting late and, the later it got, the longer she would stay away. The poor girl was exhausted. The pure excitement of the day had worn her out. Hunter stayed the whole time with the entire family, but the closer it got to past his bedtime, the more giggly and crazy he got.
I am so proud of Izzy for taking her mental wellness in her hands. There was a time where a crowd or company would make her feel claustrophobic or cranky, but she would feel rude leaving or would feel that she was missing something if she left. So she would stay until she had a melt-down. But last night, instead of getting crazy with over-socializing, she quietly left and re-grouped her thoughts in her room, then would come down to say hello before going to her bedroom to draw or think again. She was so polite about the whole thing that nobody minded and a couple of them also applauded her.
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Yesterday she got a lot of birthday money. Quite a bit for a 7 year old. I was expecting her to want to go shopping for one of her two current toy obsessions- Pet Shop toys (or a house for them) or Ty Beanie Babies. Imagine my surprise when she told me today that she would like to “give all of my money to help the animals, like my magazines say I can”. Izzy was referring to her National Geographic magazines. I said that would be fine and we settled on the World Wildlife Federation. Izzy ran up and got EVERY penny of her money and we went online to donate it. The bonus of giving it there is that if we do the gift option, she can pick a plush toy to get when she donates to benefit that animal. Iz insists that she doesn’t want to get anything, she just wants them to use the money to help the animals. My heart melted. When I was 7 years old, I would have bought the first trendy toy I saw, love it for 5 days and discard it. My daughter is a better person than the greedy kid I was.
My daughter inspires me more every day, and, I have to admit, reassures me I am doing a pretty good job at this whole mom thing.
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