"She's so HAPPY!"

Very often, when we are out in public, a perfect stranger will comment about my little one, "She's so HAPPY!" I'm always confounded as to how it was intended. A compliment? An observation?

I'm super-ultra-mega-sensitive about my kids and about people's perceptions of them, so I often feel slighted by this comment. To me, its something people say about a severely special needs child for whom they have no other compliment. "But she's so HAPPY!" Like telling an obese girl she has a pretty face, the implication is that there is something wrong with everything else.

I know I sound crazy, and I do cop to having too thin a skin about this issue, but think about it: we comment on the main positive we notice. When our big girl was a baby, everyone commented on her big eyes. It hurts me that no one sees my little girl and offers compliments on her beauty, because she IS beautiful.

That being said, I also recognize that my chief dreams for my kids are for health and happiness. Not for beauty and mediocrity. Truly, if they are healthy and happy, I am (mentally) healthy and happy. If the little one stays happy, I will be thrilled beyond belief. She is a joy to behold.

Even a stranger can see.

The wisdom of the frog

Wisdom from the movie "The Princess and the Frog":

1. "Life is short, when you're done, you're done,
We're on this earth to have some fun"

2. "You got what you wanted. But did you want what you got?"

3. "You got to dig a little deeper, find out who you are.
Dig a little deeper, it really ain't that hard."

4. "Rich people, poor people, all have dreams."