Fancy

Just ask my mom.  As a kid, getting me in matching clothing was a feat for the day, let alone getting me in tights.  Skirts were pushed to the back of my drawers to collect dust and dresses.  Sigh.  Those were brought out when absolutely necessary.  Comfort was (and is) my style and who-the-heck wants to wear anything that requires ironing?!

So the like-mother-like-daughter pattern has been thrown out the window.  

Just ask Malana.

Fanciness is her style.

Oh Mom!  Ooh lala!  Our house is SO FANCY with all the beautiful Christmas lights!  May I please wear a dress to bed tonight?  Ooh I like the frills on your shirt Mom.  It doesn’t end.  Anything with an extra little pizzazz strikes the fancy cord in my girl.  Yes, my girly girl.  

Painted nails.  Intense excitement over princesses on the pull ups.  Joy over her brother getting a dollar store car.  “I’m so happy for brother,” you say.  Your endless I’m-just-so-excited moments.  

What do I do with it?  This is not me!  So we take it a step farther.  We find the frills and bells and whistles and “extras” in life that help us live just a little fuller.  A tad more exciting.  A little more alive.  Or, I should say, she finds those extras and I muster the excitement.  

Malana - you are teaching me to spark a light in other people, and myself, with the little things that make a difference.  When we put together the bags of things for the homeless the other day, I stuffed in the mitts and hats and everything else.  Not you, babe.  You folded each hat so carefully and perfectly because you wanted the recipient to feel special and taken care of, instead of pitied.  While I pulled off practical necessities to fill the bags with, you carefully weeded through the bin of little bags to find a perfect fuzzy pink, yes fancy, bag for an important stranger who might prefer it to a simple ziplock that I had envisioned.  

Thank you for using your pizzazz, fanciness, and frilly little precious self to make sure that the people around you also get to experience the little extras in life that help them know that they are important.  Thank you for being in tune with the needs of others and helping me to help you fill them, not with the bare minimum, but with the joy, excitement, and love that you were created to have and to be.  

But still, I’m staying in my sweats.