I never was the most confident person growing up. I'm still not, but I've come to accept a lot of my flaws and realize that's what makes me. One thing that I have particularly not been fond of is my big, fat tooth that sticks up above all the other ones in the front of my mouth. It's been the culprit of bad pictures for about 27 years. Little kids always ask me, "Why is your tooth like that?"
Nothing was different about the story when I first met Shiloh and Zoe.
"Why is your tooth like that?"
Because God gave me a special one.
"Oh, well maybe if you pray he'll fix it for you."
After several months of the kids living with us, Zoe looked up at me in admiration.
This was after many, many questions throughout the months about my tooth that sticks up.
"I hope, that if I grow up, I can have a castle tooth just like you."
At first I was confused, and then she explained to me that my long tooth was a "castle" tooth, and that she wanted one because it was the most beautiful thing she's ever seen. Multiple times since then, when I've been smiling or brushing my teeth, Zoe will stare at me and tell me again how badly she wants a castle tooth.
Last night, Mike jokingly looked at her and said, "Zoe! You have two castle teeth!"
She squealed and ran into the bathroom to check. She was so disappointed when she realized that he was just kidding. Upset and discouraged that she would never have her own castle tooth, I learned a lot about love in that moment.
True love makes you love everything about yourself that you once hated. It builds you up as the qualities that once disgusted you are admired by another person. Child like love is so pure. They idolize everything you are, even when it's not a good quality; they want to become you. I'm not perfect, and I've got a giant castle tooth, 10 pounds to lose, no patience, am tired most of the time, and lose my temper too easily... but despite all of that, I've got two kids who think I'm the coolest thing on the planet. They're forgiving an resilient, and teach me how I need to be as a person. To look past flaws, forgive, and move forward with more love in my heart.
I've got their love.
And that's all that I really need.
7 comments:
This is the sweetest Ashley.
This is the sweetest Ashley.
I just love this. When I was a little girl, my mom was a lot heavier than she is now. She went on a giant fitness kick when I was in Jr. High and got fit and thin. When I was in high school, I was looking through old photos and was shocked to see that my mom was ever overweight. I never noticed when I was little because I loved her so much that she was always beautiful to me.
I have always had super pokey ears. I hated them my entire life. Then my daughter was born with the exact same ears. Now I love them (on her and on myself). It's crazy what true love can do to you.
Beautiful post that brought tears to my eyes!
Howdy, i read your blog from time to time and
i own a similar one and i was just curious if you get
a lot of spam feedback? If so how do you reduce it,
any plugin or anything you can recommend? I get so much lately
it's driving me mad so any support is very
much appreciated.
My site; high school story hack tool v1.99.exe
Another greatest advantage condominiums of houses in the market?
There is no other than houses. Apartments are usually managed by the Department of Buildings late last month.
Take a look at my weblog - Lake Life EC in Jurong
I'm new to this blog but all of a sudden I'm on a blog craze. I'm a mom of 2 (3 and 7) living a very urban (S.F.) and of course hectic life. I had some preconceived ideas when I read the marriage post but kept reading and Castle Tooth just made me cry right at my desk in a not so private or subtle way, 4 minutes before a meeting I need to speak in. Thank you for reminding me about the love of our children. It's a universal goodness that I (we?) just don't appreciate enough. I need to learn from their forgiveness and resilience. Thank you. Liz S from San Francisco
Post a Comment