Proud Mama Bear

Here is an excerpt from an email I received about my kids

I, personally, adore BOTH your children, and I think the crowning moment of Thursday night was when [Princess] ran up to [Monkey] and gave him the biggest hug for his achievement. Not only did she hug--but he hugged back.

My kids participated in a National art program for the public school PTAs which is called Reflections. I had a role in the planning and execution of this program, and it culminated in a reception for all participants. As I had involvement in the program, I MADE my kids participate. Princess did a photograph, Monkey painted a picture. The theme of the program this year is WOW and the kids had to artistically represent what WOW meant to them through visual arts, photography, literature, dance, video or music composition. In year's past, Princess has been recognized for her work and in one case was chosen to move to the next level in the competition.

This year, the tides shifted and Monkey was chosen in his age group and Princess was not. I knew this going into the reception and was preparing my speech about how it is fair, how she has had her moments in the past, how her category is different than his and that it is more competitive in her age group....I was ready for "the talk". All my planning was 'for naught' because the moment Princess found out that Monkey was a finalist she was very proud and announced it to everyone. She never made one comment about her NOT making it.

At the reception I made special announcements for the finalists and they came up individually to collect their certificates and ribbons, when I called Monkey up, Princess ran up and gave him a genuine hug. I did not witness this but two parents have independently told me how sweet that moment was. How can I not be proud of them both. Did I have anything to do with this love for each other? I'd like to think so, but it could easily be a gift we were given in the genetic lottery. If you were in my house this very minute, your opinion might change about them because they are playing Lego Star Wars on Xbox and keep grumping at each other!