Friends, tonight I was putting my daughter to bed. Her brothers were still at football practice and since they all share a room, I had this rare time of just her and me laying in her bed and talking.
Our heads were together as she was speaking, her hand holding mine, and her whole body curled into me. She was retelling in great detail about a struggle she had today with an old friend and a new friend at school.
"I wanted to play with my new friend because we don't normally do stuff together. But that choice made my other friend sad and she started to cry.
When the teacher came over to ask what was wrong, in between her tears my old friend told the teacher I was the one who made her cry. Then the teacher looked at me because she thought I did something wrong. So I said, 'It's OK! We got this. We can figure it out. Please let us talk about this on our own. Otherwise we won't ever be grown ups who can work through our problems."
I sat stunned by her intelligence, her awareness, her consciousness of self and others. I took in her soulful eyes and her sweet smile and it was then that I knew.
I don't think I was given to her to lead the way.
I believe she was given to me to teach me how to be a good human and love fiercely. To see people and do the hard work it requires to live in peace.