Ohhh... My Heart Hurts

Today was the Reflections assembly at the kids' school. For the second year in a row Katie won the literature category and will be going on to Region. She got an awesome medal. We are so proud of her! (I'll share her poem at the bottom of the post.) Matthew entered a photo of Calvin (his teacher made entering Reflections an assignment) and he got a certificate for participating. They both got passes to the Clark Planetarium... yeah!! Jeremy and I are excited about those.

So, Katie was on-stage after receiving her award and after they read the photography winners she started crying on stage. My mom thought it was because she couldn't see us and she could see all the other parents taking pictures. I thought it was because her photo (she also entered photography) didn't win and I was a little put out thinking she should be grateful for her talents, she doesn't have to the best at everything, etc.

Anyway, after the assembly I had to run my mom to her Statistics final and so Jeremy stayed to take pictures of the kids. When I left he was trying to get Katie to smile, but her eyes were red and she wasn't happy.

When I returned Jeremy said that Matthew was excited for Katie and trying to put on a happy face, but Jeremy could tell that Matthew felt bad that he didn't win. So my heart broke a little for my sweet boy.

Then, Jer said he found out the reason that Katie was crying on stage was because she also felt bad that Matthew didn't win. She told Jeremy, "It's not fair that I get to win twice and Matthew hasn't had a turn to win." Now I really wanted to cry because 1. I totally misjudged Katie and thought the worse of her when I, her mother, should have thought the best and 2. I was so touched at her empathy. In fact, her love and concern for her brother makes me so much more happy than her cute award winning poem.

Now for that poem...

When I Think of Beauty

by Kathryn Cox

When I think of beauty

I think of the moon at night

I think of the stars so bright,

The daffodils, the violets

The sunshine and the blue sky.

I think of the trees so high

They almost touch the sky.

I think of the world.

I think of my home,

My family and friends

And that is why I wrote this poem.