A drop of magic.

An ordinary day at the park with "Uncle Kebun" and our niece Sophia turned out to be one of the best days. Feeding the ducks, running around the park, playing on the tire swing, teeter totters, slides and the swings without tiring. Sure, ride the slide 23 times in a row! Sure, I'd love to push you higher on the swing! Sure, one more under-dog! Sure, Auntie Katie would love to ride the merry-go-round with you! There is so much life in that little body, I crave for it to rub off on me. She's so beautiful, so unassuming and just plain, down right precious to me. Today, for one of the first times, I purposefully left my camera at home. Yes, photos of this seemingly perfect day would have been nice, but I just wanted to be 100% there, to be engaged in these special little moments that will, one day, be distant memories of the person she was. It's true that life goes by so quickly. It's almost impossible for me to believe that's she's over 3 years old already. There are so many memories from her short life that I cling to with all my strength. The way she says "wittle" instead of little. The way she counts the stairs to the slide 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8 with such healthy confidence. Her beautiful way of calling ducks "duckyings" because Grandma read her the story of the Ugly Duckling and she remembers the word. {She even managed to call one of the giant geese an "Ugyee Duckying" haha} And, of course, her ability to make such obvious statements like "the sun is out a wittle bit" sound so incredibly adorable. She consistently yanks on my heartstrings without realizing it and I fall in love with her a wittle bit more every day.

Sometimes, I just look at her mind spinning a thousand-miles-a-minute and wonder what she's thinking? She ponders how things work, how the mechanics of teeter totters, swings, and tire swings make them bob, swing and spin. She questions why some ducks are small and others are big. Why some have green heads and others have brown or white. She wants to know the difference between a goose and a duck. She takes life by the horns and lives it like we all should - like it's worth living. She's excited and happy, she's ready to explore. I love the life in those sea-blue eyes and pray that it never gets bogged down by pressures of school, peers, parents or growing up. She has a beautiful spirit that will take her far in life, if she allows it to.

Of course, trips to the park to feed the duckyings is never quite finished without a trip to the ice cream store. We stopped off at DQ to introduce Miss Sophia to the fabulous world of cherry-dipped cones. I don't know who was in heaven more - me or her? Watching her eat that cone, half of it dripping down her face, wondering out-loud why the outside was red and inside was white, was a little bit of magic. That really is the best way to describe her - she's a drop of magic that teaches me so much about life. All I know is I am going to love that girl forever.

Like I said, today really was one of the best days.