Years ago, I was running up and down the stairs of our townhome in good old Germantown, MD, picking up toys, folding laundry, doing the flurry of very important things that needed to be done, while Harper sat at the table I’d set up in the girls’ playroom and wrote a story. “I’m writing a story with page numbers,” she told me.
The first friend she’d made all by herself had moved away. “When she left, I gave her a wintery hug,” she wrote, and that afternoon, Harper turned to story to see if she could answer the question of what is to be done once a friend moves away.
“Just play in the snow and watch for friends,” Harper wrote, and that was the end of the story except it really was the beginning because a few months later, we moved to Ann Arbor, and this is exactly what Harper would have to do.
And it is precisely what Harper did do.
I’ve written about this moment before, but now that Harper will soon be a Freshman in high school, playing and watching for friends seems like a story worth exploring again. I hope she always follows what interests her while at the same time keeps an eye out for friends.
Here is a poem I wrote for Harper and a group of her friends that have graciously and with warmth and humor extended their circle to include us. We moms are throwing a little surprise for them, and this was part of the invite.
You know how the library at Bryant was in the middle of the school? So anywhere you went you were surrounded by stories? You couldn’t get away from them and so you learned your letters you figured out what sound the “t” and the “h” make when side by side you learned “sshhh” real fast and then you found, No, David!” and that’s the thing about having access to stories everywhere you turn - There’s always something to find out But this isn’t about the library at Bryant. This is about you and all you’ve accomplished! Math and History and the Science Fair! Art exhibits downtown and Science Olympiad! There’ve been early morning swim meets and soccer games Remember what it feels like to dive in and hold your breath underwater? To catch a football? To kick a soccer ball? To slide into home plate? To write your name for the first time? What about the first time you put on ice-skates? Held a baseball bat, or, got the mitt just how you liked it? How about the first time you memorized the planets in the solar system? Learned the difference between a set and a spike? You’ve learned about fractions and percentages how to make friends and make them again You’ve made comic strips posters songs plays You’re filmmakers and actors You’re singers You’re strikers You are still figuring yourselves out And that’s the beauty of a story well - told: There’s always more to find out Congratulations to all those graduating from middle school. And to Harper - I can't wait to see the next story unfold.
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