Wednesday, January 21, 2009

dreaming ...

last night, as i was snuggling stella to bed ... she inquired about the previous day's holiday.

"mama? what was the special name for yesterday?"
- well, baby, it is called martin luther king day.

"why is martin luther king special, mama?"
- he was a very important man that wanted everyone to realize that it doesn't matter what color skin you have. one time he gave a speech ... a very special talk ... to lots and lots of people ... and he said "i have a dream ..." and he wanted people to know that his dream was that the only important thing is who you are ... what you do ... and how you do it. he wanted to see little boys and girls that have different colors of skin hold hands and be friends. he wanted his little kids to grow up in a world where the color of your skin doesn't matter.

"did he die?"
- yes, honey, he died.

"how did he die?"
- well ... someone that didn't like him ... hurt him.

"how?"
- they shot him with a gun, baby. it was very mean. it's not nice to hurt or make someone die, just because you don't feel the same way they do about things.

"did he like barack obama?"
- yes, honey. i'm sure he would have. they never got to know each other ... i would guess. but i think that martin luther king is happy that people in our world decided that the color of skin doesn't matter. today is a very special day too. because today we have a new president ... someone that makes a lot of people very happy. we've never had a president before that has a different color of skin ... kind of like we've never had a president that is a girl ... today was a day to see that anyone can be anything.

"yeah. 'cause girls can do anything boys can do. and boys can do anything girls can do. boys can even be speechathologists and teachers ... and girls can be pilots and presidents."
- yep, baby ... anyone can be anything. and i'm pretty sure that you will see a girl president in your lifetime. isn't that awesome? now you go to sleep honey. good night, sweetheart. sweet dreams.

"there was thousands and thousands of people watching the new president, mama."
- yes, honey ... there were millions of people.

"is millions more than thousands and thousands?"
- yep ... it is.

"that's a lot of happy people, mommy."
- you are so right. good night, baby. i love you. sweet dreams.

and with that?

i left my growing-in-front-of-my-eyes baby ...

i left her with the realization that there is a new hope and a newfound confidence in the world that we live in.
i left her with the understanding that she can be anything.
i left her in her warm bed ... and wept in front of the television ... watching the new president and his wife dancing and smiling and twirling ...

and i hope that i left her dreaming of all the things that she can do and be and see in her lifetime.

because i have a strong feeling that my ... no ... our world ... is changing ... for the better.

8 comments:

Sprite's Keeper said...

Every word of this post is pure beauty. Thank you.

Raising Z and Lil C said...

That was beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing.

Mike said...

You made me cry; this is gorgeous.

Kelly Hutcheson said...

CLearly you're making this up! OMG! This is poignant!

I don't use that word often either! barely know how to spell it! LOL

jen said...

so funny.
sometimes i write things just because i want to remember them the way they were.
-- this truly was my conversation before bed with my (almost) 5 year old. she's a strong thinker. and a bad going-to-sleeper ... maybe that goes hand in hand? --
which is why i write as soon as i get a chance - when something like this happens ...
and the most amazing thing ... is this medium where when others can tell me that they thought it was pretty neat too.
and to think ... i just wanted to remember it for my little one someday.

Casey said...

So sweet, thanks for sharing. It's hard to explain hatred to kids but I'm glad Stella saw the silver lining.

dig this chick said...

awe, love that little inauguration story. yay us. yay for our girls!

Pamela said...

i think strong thinkers and bad going-to-sleep-ers do go hand in hand.

love that our president loves his wife so very obviously.