The Fairy Godmother

I had an epiphany a few years back. I started thinking about the amazing people who stimulated me with gentle words or red-hot poker words to be my better self. Most of them had no idea how saying the right thing, being there at the right time and caring enough to speak the truth to me would impact me. But it did. And sometimes it has simply been my observation of their lives that has made me better. Recently I realized that my favorite people had suffered serious disappointments in their life and had become more empathetic, more focused on what is important as a result. And thus I have adopted a string of godparents: Mr. and Mrs. Kendall, Jean, Judy, Dr. Scheck, Mom Jones. My own godmother hasn't been a big part of my life, but I do remember her smile. Everytime I have seen her, she has flashed this beautiful smile and I feel that she cares.

And thus, choosing godparents for our children was very important to me. Ben surprised us with parenthood in a very busy time of our lives and thus he had arrived before we got around to picking godparents. But both of the girls had godparents picked out within a week or two of us learning their gender. (Which was when Kyrie was born but earlier for Evie.)

Kyrie's godmom Connie is a woman I admire more and more every day. She epitomizes a lot of the grace of God to me. She is in many ways my complete opposite, right down to her looks: tall, blonde, graceful, and athletic. She was a cross country runner in college and used to amaze me by going out running while pregnant. Love surprised her. Parenthood surprised her too. She went from being uncertain she ever wanted children to being an amazing and devoted mom to her three children. She will be a wonderful godmom to Kyrie and is already. We already look forward to taking our girls on mini-trips together. I could entrust Kyri to her and know she would prayerfully consider all the counsel she gave her.

When we found out Everleigh was a girl, I knew I wanted Lindsay to be her godmother. Lindsay was my last housemate before I married Mike and I have watched her grow and change and become more herself, certain, confident, capable. She is a woman of prayer. With a nose ring and a motorcycle. She is an aunt to 8 biological children and has a host more children who call her Aunt Lindsay (including mine). But I think we locked her in for life by giving her her very first godchild. There are so many reasons I could go into why she was chosen, so many attributes. But first and foremost is her ability to love. And her trust in God, even as life hasn't gone as she had expected. Her singleness is a thing of beauty. It may be a temporary state but I'm confident in her ability to live life joyfully, single or not. And I wanted that vision in front of both of my daughters. (I'll blog on that more later.)

She came out to visit and help us out for five days. She came when we were sick and took care of us. She endeared herself anew to Ben and Kyrie. And Everleigh learned to recognize her face and smile before she left.

I'm old enough to know that even the best mother is not enough. We all need a host of people of who love us and support us in prayer. We made sure we put a good one in Evie's corner.