the heart of a 13 year old

one of my alltime fave movies is "you've got mail"

i love meg ryan

i love tom hanks

i love goldens

& i love goldens named brinkley

i love that she owned her own shop

i too used to own a shop

i love that her shop is a bookstore

because

of course

i love bookstores

i love her wardrobe

& i love the precious relationship between the two characters

i can quote practically the entire flick

i love it when meg, as kathleen kelly, types this:

"Sometimes I wonder about my life. I lead a small life - well, valuable, but small - and sometimes I wonder, do I do it because I like it, or because I haven't been brave? So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when shouldn't it be the other way around? I don't really want an answer. I just want to send this cosmic question out into the void. "

i too lead a small life

& sometimes i feel like my blog writing is just like this

a cosmic question

or entry

sent out into the void

so today i do have a cosmic question

there might not be an answer

per say

& i don't know that i even need an answer

maybe just an affirmation

that you too

struggle with this

you see

i have a 13 year daughter

who loves many

& is loved by many

she is perpetually happy

& cheerful

she sees the good in all people

& gives the endless benefit of the doubt

to everyone

{something, i must sadly admit she did not inherit from me}

she is loyal

crazy loyal

for several years she looked just like the character that played Lucy Pevensie

in "The Chronicles of Narnia"

( she had the same bob & that precious round face)

not only one of my most favorite stories in literature

but undoubtedly

my favorite literary character

( which explains why i wanted to name my golden Lucy if

she was a girl

but since he is a boy...he his brinkley

follow?)

that's my emi

forgiving

innocent minded

&

trusting

so how do i teach a child to truly see the good
& trust people
to forgive

yet
at the same time
teach her that she can not blindly trust everyone
that her loyalty is like a gift
that others aren't always a sweet & kind as she thinks they are

how do i encourage her to be a friend to the friendless
yet
be careful because sometimes those friends
might not be good friends

that being loyal to her friends
might include asking adults to help
if that friend
that needs her loyalty
also needs some help
that is out of her league
as a innocent minded sweet 13 year old girl

how do i teach her to do
just as she has learned from scripture
to turn the other cheek
to do unto others as she would have them do unto her
&
yet
be careful
because not everyone will treat her
as the precious child she still is

there are people who will
take advantage of her loyalty
who will abuse her forgiveness

she has the strengths that are noble
i just want her to be careful

i don't want to come across as the jaded adult

or even just the realist that i am

its so hard....

letting them

be brave

when the bravery

is in the giving

of their heart.....