Friday, June 19, 2009

Top Five Reasons I Heart Elise

I am blessed with so many wonderful people in my life and one of those sweet blessings is Elise. Our paths crossed at church..I've known her since she first came to our church as a child when her Dad came as Minister of Music. I watched her grow and God uniquely connected us while she was still in high school. Providentially, that happened, just a year or so before she lost her Mom and as I have walked that road before, we have shared many tears together. Elise is just one example of the many sweet spiritual daughters I have that God has graciously brought into my life even though I've never, nor probably will ever, bear my own children. I could probably write a blog post on each and every one of them...and maybe I will one day...but let's start with Elise, since we just had some wonderful quality time a couple of weeks ago and I was reminded of these five things that night...

1. She loves old movies and musicals - We are kindred spirits when it comes to movies. Whether it's the old black and whites or the big musical productions, we love them! My favorite Christmas movie is Holiday Inn...not White Christmas....not It's a Wonderful Life. And, Elise is always game to watch that movie, even during the off season. The movie of choice a couple of weeks ago was Mamma Mia!

2. She names inanimate objects - I have this quirk about naming cars, cell phones...making non-human things have a personality. Must have been all those years of talking to my stuffed animals...but I digress. Elise shares in that love and on this recent night, we discussed what she should name her new Nissan during a joy ride we took in her new vehicle. Her former car, a Saturn, was named Sally, so it was very important that she bond with her new car and give it a name. She just told me yesterday she has decided upon Jake...good name!

3. She has no problem being goofy - I'm all about deep, serious conversations, but sometimes, you just gotta cut loose. This night the goal of watching Mamma Mia wasn't just for the beautiful scenery and love story...but so we could sing-a-long! Yep, Dancing Queen...Honey, Honey...The Winner Takes it All....Take a Chance on Me...Waterloo. Laughing, singing, loving...it's a great combination. And even though I can be goofy with her, she finds it uber cool that I graduated high school in the 80s. In fact, I drug out the old yearbooks so she could work on an outfit to wear to an 80s birthday party the next night. It's much more tolerable being old, when you are old AND cool.

4. She gushes about boys - Sometimes with real Moms, girls don't come completely clean on the supposed loves of their life, but with "pseudo Moms" they normally do...and I welcome that. Sometimes it's the harsh reality of a boy who did her wrong...sometimes it's the sparkle of a possibility of a boy being interested....and sometimes it's mere infatuation with an unattainable boy. This night, it was the latter....Robert Pattinson....or "Robbie P" as she affectinately calls him. Edward from the movie Twilight. I refuse to watch the movie with her until I've read the book, but she had to show me the extra scene on the DVD (which she owns, of course) of Robbie P playing the piano....quite an attractive thing for us girls with a love for music. She can have Robbie P....I'll take Robert Downey, Jr....he's more my age...and equally as appealing.

5. She is just the daughter I'd love to have - I love Elise as if she were my own. She's been through a lot in her short little life, but I'm so proud of her and know God has big things in store for her. A few years ago, Elise gave me a sweet wooden angel with an inscription on it of what I mean to her. I have it displayed on my kitchen hutch and my heart melts every time I read it. I know if her Momma were here, she'd be so proud of that sweet girl. Miss Pat, your legacy will live on.

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