RhaynyDay #7

June was a swift month, as they usually are. We spent a lot of time at the pool taking swim lessons. You love them. You think you are a fish. The only problem you have is the same one you have at school. You have a hard time staying focused and not disrupting the class with your antics. It is cute, but annoying. I don’t really know how to “fix” it, because it is your exuberance that causes it. It isn’t that you don’t want to know things, you just jump in fully.

This month (July) is going to be a hard one for you. Your closest friend, E, is moving to Texas. You haven’t lost a friend because of moving before this. It is hard. When I was in first grade we moved from South Dakota to Arizona and I lost a few friends because of it. You always say “We’ll keep in touch” but it isn’t that easy. I hope for you that we stay in touch with their family. Her mom is one of my closest confidants and I do not want to lose her. Also? With the internet it is easier to stay in contact with friends. Their family is rarely on the internet, E, never. But we will call them every few weeks, because I will need to hear JD’s voice. Daddy is going back on Active Duty in a little over a week. He will be reporting for duty every day, and although we will still get to see him in the evenings, it won’t be the same. You know that he is going to war, and for the time you seem alright with it. I can see some sadness in your green eyes; they betray you and I hope they always do. You still show every emotion on your face and that makes it easy for me to read you, to know how you feel.

Oh, my darling girl, I hope that you never lose your imagination because that is often what gets me through the day (and night sometimes.) I have tried to teach you my trick for when I have a hard time falling asleep at night. My eyes closed, I tell myself a story. Sometimes it is just a story from a book that I have read recently sometimes it is a movie I saw. Sometimes it is that same story I have been telling myself since I was a small girl. You do not understand this trick. Maybe it won’t work for you. Maybe it will be easier as you get older. Maybe you will not have problems falling asleep at night.

(The blue ice cream on your nose in this picture was not washed off that night. The next morning you woke up with a little blue dirty smudge... whoops.)