Kind

Sayler is kind.

It's the kind of thing that could go unnoticed rather easily... Behind her boisterous confidence and cool shoulder shrugs- she sometimes projects a kind of  'unaffectedness' common in 5 year old children.

But nothing goes unnoticed by her. 

Last week she asked to borrow my nice stationary- the set I had *just bought from Target that I immediately loved. 

I sighed heavily, longingly looking at the adorable cardstock and envelop that I would not get back, quietly calculating who I would have to forgo sending a card  to from the pile.

But I relented, because it's Sayler. 

Smooth, slick, sugary, spicy Sayler.

She proceeded to write an assortment of sight words on her card. "Amarillo"... "Rojo"... "Esta"....

She added a few hearts- the skinny tall hearts that are not chunky and round as mine were as a child. The reduced fat hearts... The paleo-hearts... The Atkins hearts...

She said she was going to give it to 'Emma'- a girl I have seen from time to time, but one who is not among her closest friends.

"Because the boys were being mean to her and made her sad..."

My own heart melted a bit.

My chubby, round, deep fried, chocolate-covered heart.

It melted.

She put that card in a baggy, along with a small chocolate donut, and responsibly put it in the fridge... And then her backpack the next morning. 

And that was that.

We didn't talk about it further.

Sayler went back to her cool unaffectedness, but I know better.

I know the kind, thoughtful, perceptive little girl that lies beneath my tomboy. 

I love her.