cute girl

i had the pleasure of joining liam's second grade class today for their mother's day celebration.  all twenty-two moms were present, sitting at desks around the edge of the room, while one by one, each of our offspring stepped forward to the front of the class.  on an easel to their left, they placed a portrait they had painted of their mom, and then each of them read a short essay they had written. 

when the first student began, i actually started to tear up a little -- it was so heartfelt, so genuine.  but then the second one read hers, and it sounded quite similar.  and then the third continued the theme.  by the time the fourth one launched into his spiel, i had the formula down pat: an introduction; a paragraph describing their mom; a paragraph about their mom's skills or talents; a paragraph about what they like to do with their mom; and a conclusion.  (the general format of the five paragraph essay has obviously not changed much in the past few decades.)

while there was much variety among us twenty-two moms in terms of talents and skills and enjoyed activities, we were all remarkably similar in one way: apparently, we are all beautiful.  "my mom is beautiful because she has curly and shiny hair!" we heard.  and then, "my mom is beautiful because she has rosy lips!" and, "my mom is beautiful because she has soft skin!" 

there was only one child in the bunch who broke from the norm.  liam.

"i love my mom, and this tells all about her," he began.  (introduction, check.)  "my mom, sara, is ..." i waited for it.  "... a very cute girl."

the entire perimeter of the room chuckled, catching liam by surprise.  his eyes darted toward me for reassurance -- had he said something funny?   i gave him a thumbs up, and he smiled back at me before returning to his reading.

so "beautiful" was not his word of choice ... but that's quite all right.  i don't mind a bit.

because i'm a Very Cute Girl.