lullaby.

There's this really amazing girl that I know.  I haven't known her for very long, and there's a lot that I don't fully understand, but there's something about her that is inviting and unique and special.  And it makes me want to beam and protect her and brag and pray that only good things happen in her life.  She has this way of running through life, not running past it - away from the scary things - but running in between each crevice and around each square inch and through all of nature's appendages in order to feel all there is to offer, good and bad.

Don't ask me how I've realized this despite only knowing her for about six or seven weeks. Sometimes we just have senses about people, right?

In so many ways I look at her and I want to see a reflection of my past.  I want to see the immense similarities, and I want to revel in the joy of who I was and who she is and who I am and who she will be.  But instead I see someone so much stronger, and so much happier, and so much more put together in each and every way a young woman can be.  She is kind and intelligent, sweet and talented, funny and beautiful.  She is burdened as we all can be, but she handles it with grace and wit.  I wish I had been like her.  I wish I'd been as capable and able to get through the tough stuff, recognizing that there were greater things at work.  I gave in to the pain and the urges and I slept and slept and slept.  And I ran away from so many things.  She embraces it and sleeps for a few hours, but then wakes up and works and works and works.  And I'm pretty sure she'll always run at everything with all the faith she can muster.

She gets to run at something this weekend, and I have no doubt that she'll jump over each ledge and get up if she stumbles down a little and finish, maybe a little sweaty, but certainly successful.  What's so great about it is knowing that the success doesn't rest upon a win.  Because even though she's almost nine years younger than me, I feel stronger after working with her for the last six weeks.  Knowing that she's going to leave this weekend as a more altruistic and sincere being gives me great hope, not only in the power that the youth have, but in the realization that it's never too late to become a better person.

So thank you, Miss Piano Goddess Extraordinaire for teaching me far more than I've attempted to teach you.  If this is all you've accomplished in six weeks then I am excited to see who you will grow to be.  And even though you need none of it, good luck my dear.