Dear Reader:

Yesterday was a girl’s day out….Cinderella Day…to be exact. While Mandy was on spring break we planned a girl’s day to take Eva Cate to see Cinderella, go the nursery and look at the plants and animals at Hidden Ponds, concluding with lunch at Chick-Filet so Eva Cate could play inside with the other children.

While we were eating and Eva Cate playing…I told Mandy that I was purposefully using the term “beautiful” these days with Eva Cate in reference to her actions…not her little (beautiful) physical looks. Grandmother Boo Boo wanted her to understand early that beautiful is a term not to be used lightly. Real beauty does lie beneath the skin where one’s kindness and deeds are more important than one’s looks.

Disney is back on track with this movie version of Cinderella…back to the quality of the  Disney shows I grew up watching as a child. Since everyone ( I hope) knows the plot (so there is no need for a “spoiler alert” warning)…let me just share with you one important message that was “hammered home” throughout this particular, interpretative showing.

As Cinderella’s mother is dying…the final words to her daughter are “Have courage and be kind”…that is all you will need in this world to succeed. In spite of all the later difficulties in her life with the “wicked stepmother and step-sisters” Cinderella stays true to her mother’s words.

When she is discovered hidden in the attic (put there by the “wicked stepmother”) when the couriers appear with the glass slipper- for every young girl in the kingdom to try on…Cinderella descends the dusty attic steps in her disheveled dress and hair to hide nothing from the prince about who she really  is.

She makes no apologies for what life has handed her….he must love her for whom she is inside….not her beauty outside…and of course he does. Through toil and trouble…she proudly had stayed true to her promise to her mother and now had become “her own kind of beautiful.”

When I first arrived yesterday morning ….Mandy told me to sit down because she and Eva Cate had worked on puppets for a puppet show they were giving to her class based on the book and lesson behind the “Lollipop Seeds.” They wanted me to see the props and puppets…because one puppet was me.

Here are the props they created…with the message of the script being “Plant seeds with kind deeds” to make the world a better place. A person is “tops” when he helps another who “flops” and is rewarded with Easter Bunny “Lollipops.”

Here are the puppets-Grandmother Boo and the puppet- Eva Cate…re-enacting out our wheelbarrow of seeds and kind deeds.It is too adorable! (Looks just like me…except the puppet has eyelashes (I am quite envious) since, alas, chemo took that little item from me long ago.)

Apparently the courageous and kind message in Cinderella hit home to Eva Cate after the movie ended. We went in a couple of shops…one being Claire’s Boutique to look at earrings and Eva Cate ended up getting her ears pierced! (This is the same child who six months ago wouldn’t let me put a clip earring on her ear for fear of pain.)

She decided right there in that shop that she was going to do it…one of the reasons being…another five year old wanted to desperately have her ears pierced too…but was too afraid. The mother asked Eva Cate if she minded if her daughter, Kate, watched her….maybe it would help her overcome her fears.

By the time the two clerks pierced her ears (they did it together…so both ears were done at the same moment) Kate decided that she could do it also. The mother profusely clapped for Eva Cate and thanked her for her courage.

Eva Cate had manifested courage and had been kind to another human being.

In the first photo…apprehension and courage were dueling it out…but courage won. In the second picture…Eva Cate smiled in relief…it really was just a little pinch as promised. (Now I get all my clip-on’s back!)

Hidden Ponds nursery really is a hidden treasure for adults and children alike…there are animals to view and feed, century plants to marvel at…and the most exquisite flowers (that made Mandy and I succumb to the check-out sign’s reminder)

I loved going into the “Century Plant” field with Eva Cate…it made me feel as young as Eva Cate…everything is relative in life isn’t it…especially age.

We picked up Jakie on the way home…we had gotten him a sporty hat for Easter and shoes…Eva Cate could hardly wait to show him her pierced ears.

After dinner we girls took a little walk…the boys passed on it….I think John just wanted to hang with Jakie and dream of Auburn football scholarships!

So until tomorrow….Thank you Father for memories of gardens, Cinderellas, and courage under “piercings”….Let us never forget that we are all our “own kind of beautiful” in Your eyes!

Sleep tight tonight my “beautiful” Cinderella/Eva Cate! You were brave and kind today…I bet a lollipop is growing as we speak!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* The magazine came out today with Tommy and Atticus’s picture in it. Here is a link to it….photo of them paddle boarding is found on page 39. Thanks Kaitlyn for initiating this photo moment and sharing it with us! (Photo 5 below)

http://issuu.com/traveler-comm/docs/castailsspring2015web

* Remember to help some-bunny today! Thank you Cindy for the bunny photos!

* Fran Townsend remembered a line from some lyrics that took me back awhile….see if it does you….

“When you are most simple is when you really feel free” — so true! Or, according to Kris Kristofferson, “freedom’s just another word for nothing else to lose”