Shuggie Shuggie, How you get so fly? I've realized it may have been better to spell it Shoogie all these years, but oh well. You know what I'm saying.
Giiiirl...
Where do I begin? Dan. You are such cool girl. So many times I have watched you and just been struck with what a fun, cool girl you are! You have such a personality! Oh, how I wish I could have been like you when I was young--filled with confidence and talent and wit and feistiness! It's absolutely no wonder you always have a ton of friends because you are just so dang fun.
You just finished fifth grade with Mr. Jorgensen and will be headed to middle school next year. Say whaaaa??? Because you are who you are, you are super excited. I am not excited. I don't want you to grow up. I want you to be my little sugar plum forever!
We just got back from our summer trip to Vegas, during which time you went on your 6th grade trip with Nana and Sherri! You got to swim with dolphins! As Nana and Sherri were sending me pictures of it, I knew you were having the time of your life and I was right! When you got home, you told me how much you had loved it and how it is one of the greatest memories of your life. You are so lucky to have such an amazing, generous Nana!
You continue to love animals soooo much and want a pet more than anything else in this world. And while I truly love this about you, so far Dad and I have not agreed to let you have one. Recently, however, I came as close as ever to relenting. It was just after you had caught that baby bunny in the back yard....
I can't remember exactly how it happened, but I know that you had been picking weeds under the trampoline and you had a big bowl. Somehow, you had managed to catch a baby bunny under that bowl (is that how it happened?) Regardless, you came running into the house yelling that you had finally caught a bunny! Oh, man! You were so excited. Daddy and I and Skip and Jane all went out back to see it. You lifted the bowl and wen to pick it up, but it managed to scamper away. Luckily, you and Daddy were able to trap it again and Daddy got a hold of it and then handed it to you. You were one very happy girl. You snuggled that bunny and ran around getting water and food for it and then immediately began begging to keep it. Daddy and I didn't know what to say, so we said we thought that would be ok. You were ecstatic. Unfortunately, just a little while later, we began Googling "how to care for a wild baby bunny" and found out that wild baby bunnies will most likely die shortly after having been caught because of the stress it causes them. Upon hearing that, you made the very difficult decision to let your little bunny go. You held and petted it a while longer and then walked out into the middle of the back yard, bent down, and set it free. You were devastated and spent the next several days crying and bemoaning the fact that Dad and I wouldn't let you get a pet. Seeing how happy you were with that bunny and how devastated you were to let it go made me think maybe we SHOULD finally consent to letting you get a pet. I KNOW you would be a loving, responsible pet owner. You've certainly proven that. But when I approached Daddy with it again, he was still adamant about not getting one. I'm sorry Shuggie. I truly look forward to the day when you DO get your first pet. You really are amazing with animals.
You are also SO good with little kids. You LOVE to babysit and went around last school year begging all of your teachers with little kids to go on dates so that you could babysit. And when you DID babysit, you did SUCH a good job. I was so proud of you!! You are only 11, but handled everything like a pro! You changed and fed the babies and entertained the kids all on your own without my having to worry about anything. Wow.
In the last several months, you managed to save your own money to go on two horse rides up at C&M stables and I was so proud of you for doing that. You are interested in a million other things as well. You are still doing gymnastics and often go early and/or stay late to help Deena and Brit with the other classes. You also played soccer and basketball this year and were one of the leading players on both teams. You tell me you are going to try track this coming school year so that will be exciting to watch as well! You are one STRONG girl, and always have been. You've always been able to make it to the top of the rope at the gym and recently--while waiting to obtain a physical at the middle school, you challenged a bunch of boys to arm wrestle you and beat them all. I wasn't surprised to hear it. :)
Along with your big personality, you're can also be pretty dramatic from time to time. When you're tired and get worked up about something, it can turn into a mess pretty quickly sometimes. I think you have the loudest, biggest tears I have ever seen. Ha!
So many times I have also been astonished at your level of integrity. I have watched you work through conflict with your friends and stand up for what you believe in. Recently, I went upstairs to watch TV and found that someone had been watching a program that I wouldn't have approved. I went downstairs and asked all of you who had been watching it. None of you confessed. Later, however, you came to me privately to tell me you thought it was you. I was so impressed and thanked you for telling me. I also reminded you to ask me to watch anything you're not sure I would approve. Afterwards, I thought about the fact that you clearly had not finished watching the show (which was why I had gotten the " Continue watching?" message) and wondered if your own innate sense of integrity had been what had led you to turn it off in the first place. Is that right? Either way, I was--and still am--so proud of you.
Also, several months ago, you and I had occasion to drive over to Eugene by ourselves. As we were leaving town, you offered to say a prayer for our safety. I had not thought to do so, but was certainly happy to receive your offer. As I drove, you prayed aloud that we would be watched over and kept safe as we drove. By the time we drove home later on, I was very tired and knew that it was unsafe for me to be driving. Because of my impatience to get home, however, I never pulled over as I should have. As we pulled into town, I remember feeling the impression that we had been protected because of your prayer. Thank you, Shuggie. I love you, girl.
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