To Carly

My baby sister is just about to have a baby. The little lass isn't supposed to come for another month, but the nurse says that Carly is di-a-lating. She said that Carly is between a three and a four. Now when I was between a three and a four with both of my labors, I was screaming like a banshee and then gave birth within three hours. So this just goes to show how different every woman's experience is.

So I have had this new baby on my mind 24/7 and, of course, my own kids are on my mind 24/7, and then today I learned that somebody was MEAN to my seven year-old niece, who happens to be the happiest, funniest, sweetest, sunny-est girl ever born on this green earth.

.

Kate--in the pink shirt. You can easily see why her nickname is Little Miss Sunshine

.

Hearing that somebody made her feel bad made my blood boil. It's a good thing that I don't live where she does because I don't think I could keep myself from driving to the meany's house and letting her and her parents have it. Honestly.

And that is when I remembered how I turned into a crazy person when I became a mother. I never knew I had such primal instincts---the kind that make animals kill to protect their young. I remember, when Eliza was six weeks old, watching the news reports from the horrible day at Columbine High School. I watched on TV as a father pulled up in his car, jumped out and took off at a dead run toward the school. It was the first time I realized that people might still think of their teenagers as their babies. I thought of how he had raised that girl from infancy and that on that day somebody tried to hurt her. This is how I felt:

So Carly, before this little girl comes, try very hard to understand your primal instincts, and how to temper them with wise words from President Hinckley and the New Testament---you know, like turning the other cheek, believing that forgiveness is a virtue, and just plain being nice---beacuse the first time some kid on the playground tells your daughter that she isn't a good soccer player, or that her clothes are ugly...well, you may be tempted to get ugly too!