believe_me ovenbird She showed me the Emotion Chart she illustrated in school–eight squares, each depicting a different state of mind. In the square labelled “Sad” she drew a picture of me saying, “I’m so disappointed in you,” and a picture of herself crying. When I saw it I nearly broke down in the middle of her grade five classroom. Because surely I’ve never said such a thing! I’ve never even thought it! But somehow it is a feeling inside of her and I wanted to erase it and I didn’t know how. This is a fear she carries, a fear she believes could come true, a thing she has perceived even if it isn’t real. My beautiful girl. I could never be disappointed in you. You have such an astounding heart. You strive to understand the inner experiences of the people around you. Your powers of perception and empathy already stretch beyond those of many adults. You always act from a place of kindness, even when someone has hurt you. You work so hard to be the best version of yourself and I’m awed by your focus and determination. There is no bar set in my mind that I measure you against. And if there were you have already exceeded it in every way that matters. Mistakes and failures are necessary for learning. I want you to know the truth of it. I want to give you the gift of allowing yourself to fail while you pursue the goals that awaken your spirit. This is a lesson I learned far too late. When you fail I am not disappointed. When you fail I am cheering you on, because it means you had the courage to try, it means you took a risk on something new and challenging beyond the edge of your current capacity. This is how you grow! And every day I watch you try again, whereas I gave up and walked away, too afraid to be seen in my failure, too afraid to make myself vulnerable. I am never disappointed in you, but I’m disappointed in myself for not showing you every day that nothing you do, no matter the outcome, will ever lead me to be disappointed in who you are. I don’t know how to make you believe this, but I will try, with every breath I take, until I am nothing but air in your lungs. 260925 what's it to you? who go blather from