Sarah's Questions

Sometimes I get so overwhelmed by all of the busy events going on right now: the release of my first book, the selling of my old homes in another state, the purchase of a new one here in California, and the regular deadlines and demands of life. And then somehow one moment can bring everything back into perspective.

In my moments of busy-ness, I stopped to take the garbage outside. As I hurried the trash bag to the garbage bin, I noticed two kids playing together, a boy around 7 years old who was playing with a stick, and a girl, around 4, who danced in circles in her pretty lime green dress and matching Crocs. I hustled to the garbage can, threw in my bag, and headed back to my door. That's when I saw a tiny little burst of green happily hopping my way.
"What's your name?" the little girl asked with a high-pitched voice.
I turned to see the little girl smiling up at me. "Tamara," I answered, "what's yours?"
"Sarah."
"Ohhh," I said, "I love that name."
"Are you a girl or a boy?" she asked.
For a moment I was thinking Sarah was losing her cuteness, but I figured I'd indulge her line of questioning. "I'm a girl. What about you? Are you a girl or a boy?"
"I'm a girl," she said. And then she approached me and pointed to my breasts. "Then why do you have that?"
Lest you think Sarah was as confused about gender identity as I had considered, I should point out what I just noticed. Sarah wasn't actually pointing to my breasts. She was pointing to the Batman symbol on my t-shirt.
"Oh," I said. "Batman's pretty cool. Girls can wear Batman stuff. Besides, there's also Batgirl. Have you heard of her?"
"Yeah," she said, giggling as she spun away. Then stopped, asking one more question. "Do you wanna be my fwend?"
I felt my chest under my bat symbol get a little warm. A smile stretched across my face. "I would love to be your friend. Do you wanna be mine?"
She nodded, then continued spinning away.

I felt my cheeks flush as I walked back inside. How lucky was I to have such a sweet, silly girl live near me?

Thanks Sarah for reminding me of the really great stuff life has to offer.
Your friend, Tamara.