Beautiful Things

The Princess is obsessed with all things beautiful. If something is sparkly or shiny or one of her favorite colors then she must have it, or at least tell someone about it. She points out all of the beautiful things she finds each day. Under normal circumstances I would be concerned about a person described in that way. I would worry that such a person was superficial.

 But I'm not worried about The Princess. She finds EVERYTHING...and everybody, beautiful. No lie. It's one of the qualities I love most about her.

She points to people in Walmart, at the mall, the gas station, and Costco and exclaims, "oh Mommy! Aren't they just beautiful?!".  I hate to admit it, but a few times I have thought to myself, "really?". It seems I have a thing or two to learn from my sweet five year old.

She isn't afraid to approach people and tell them how beautiful they are. The list of people she has told is quite long.....

Me
Miss Nettie, her preschool teacher
Her best friend's mom
The greeter at Walmart
The cashier at Walmart
The cashier at Costco
The bank teller
Her teacher at church
A few random people at the park
The waitress at dinner the other night
Our neighbors
The other moms in our carpool
The receptionist and nurses at the pediatrician's office

And that's just in the last week or so!

Just yesterday, on her field trip to the fire station, she raised her hand just to tell the fireman that he is handsome. She is known to talk very softly, so I had to repeat it so he could hear. Which I found slightly embarrassing. But, you know what? I think it might have just made that fireman's day!

Who doesn't love to be told they're attractive? And how many of us have been brainwashed by the world around us to believe, at least at times, that we aren't worthy of such a declaration?

I hope my Princess always searches for beauty with more than just her eyes. I hope she continues to feel beauty with her heart. And I really hope, when the world tries to convince her that she isn't beautiful, that she will listen to me as I boldly proclaim how amazingly beautiful she is! And as I try teach her all I know about true beauty.

And I hope she believes me when I tell her that I learned it all from her.