Isabella turns five on Wednesday. Although no poem, short story, or song could do justice to how much joy she (and Averey) bring to my life, I try to write her a little something every year.
Happy birthday to the little girl who has the biggest heart of anyone I know.
"My Favorite Princess"
It was a year of
firsts for the newly crowned big sister of the clan,
“avenging” her
mother’s t-ball fears, pink glove (and sand piles) in hand.
She swam in the
ocean and at her BFF, Kynsley,’s pool,
and somehow,
beyond explanation, made ruffled pants look reasonably cool.
She “earned”
forty two new pairs of Wal-Mart pajamas on persuasiveness alone,
a convincing
conversationalist, skills honed on her parents’ smart phones.
The day she
pretended to be TJ, fake male voice and insurance lingo at hand,
was the day I
realized her graduation from endearing to witty, foolish land.
She became a
daddy’s girl, piling in the truck or razor when farm duty called,
checking on
fences and cows, insisting she “help” when hay needed to be hauled.
You see,
Isabella Kurtys doesn’t really take “no” for an answer;
she’s “got it
covered,” whether as farmhand, Averey’s babysitter, or BAFA tap dancer.
Speaking of
which, her role as “big sister” is obviously the most important “first,”
a part she has
embraced, one we’ve surprisingly never had to coerce.
I’m sure
hairbrushes will be thrown and unfathomably unequal school desks arranged,
but for the time
being, it’s living room laughter and a little red rolly ball exchanged.
They love each
other just as the Anna and Elsa they both so adore,
a companionship
that has naturally developed, one never implored.
And thus, to see
them together would melt the most Frozen of hearts,
in matching
Matilda Jane dresses they perfectly play the doting sister part.
And so, on this
last Sunday in June, I write a poem for the little girl who has become so much,
the one worthy
of labor-intensive homemade cakes, life-sized Disney cut-outs and such.
She is the niece
whom I love far beyond the words I annually try to put down,
the birthday
girl who this humble Aunt thinks everyday deserves a crown.
Much love on your 5th
birthday, Isabella Kurtys,
Aunt Liza, Willie,
Lucy, Charley, DC, Wendell, and all the outside cats
***
A few points of reference:
-Isabella's t-ball team was called the Avengers.
-Leigh Ann and I both cried and refused to play when Mom took us to our first t-ball practice.
-Leigh has never let me live down the time I threw a sage green hairbrush at her. I still talk about how she gave me the crap school supplies and makeshift office furniture.
-I hope you have seen the video on Facebook where Isabella and Averey are rolling the little ball to each other. It is incredibly endearing.
-Isabella loves Frozen and had a Frozen-themed birthday party last Sunday.
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