this girl...

this girl...

♥ adores animals and wants to work as a volunteer at the animal shelter during her school holidays next year when she turns thirteen. (and has dreamed of doing so ever since she was 8.)
♥ writes me little reminder notes about things she knows I have a tendancy to forget. (such as the time, many years ago, when I forgot that she was finishing school early and came home to find her sitting in the doorway of her playhouse, eating some leftovers from her lunchbox and reading a library book. I couldn't believe I'd forgotten and was MORTIFIED, but she was happy and content and perfectly safe-- even if she still reminds me about it even now, years later. :X)
♥ has a quirky and unique sense of fashion that enchants me. stripes, checks and florals? sure! worn all at once? okay! better yet, she's more than cute enough to pull it off.
♥ still calls me Mummy and unselfconsciously slips her hand into mine when we cross the road.
♥ makes me a cup of coffee every morning and leaves it on my desk.
♥ is the negotiator and peacemaker amongst her friends. she refuses to take sides, and is always in search of justice, sticking up for the underdog every time.
♥ is unflinchingly generous and giving. I admired the smell of her High School Musical perfume the other day, and later walked into my bedroom to find it sitting on my dressing table where she'd left it so I could use it too.
♥ has a vivid imagination, and has been working for a while now on a story involving talking animals dealing with a comet that hurtles down from outer space. (hee!)
♥ loves music (lately it's Hannah Montana, the Jonas Brothers and High School Musical) and is often found singing and dancing around the house.
♥ waves goodbye to me every morning before school-- all the way down the street. she walks backwards most of the way to the corner so she can wave back as I watch her from the front window. then she stops at the corner and blows me a kiss-- every time. even when a friend is walking with her. every time.
♥ can reel off countless facts about all kinds of things: space, animals, the human body-- and that one time I forgot she was finishing school early.
♥ is a constant joy, and the most precious gift I have ever been given.