Today I want to introduce you to The Kindred Spirit, the firstborn of my body, and the oldest of my Little People. When I was trying to capture the right pen name for her I really struggled. How could I fully capture the loving, creative spirit of my sassy stubborn daughter into something a small as a pen name? After much deliberation, I came up with the Kindred Spirit, but was concerned that it might not fully capture the stubborn streak that I could clearly see was there literally from day 1. When I was pregnant, her father went around telling everyone who would listen, for 9 months, that she would weigh at least 8 pounds, because all 5 of the older kids all weighed over 8 pounds at birth. She was born weighing 7lbs, 15oz. She was the only child that I went into labor naturally for and the only one out of 8 children to roll in under 8 lbs. I saw this trend towards stubbornness continue when her first word was, ‘No!’ It’s been almost twenty years since her journey began.
Could the alias Kindred Spirit really capture all of that, I wondered. But then I was reminded of Anne Shirley from Anne of Green Gables. Those of you who know what I am talking about probably won’t need any further explanation. For those that don’t, Anne Shirley was just the sweetest, my loving and well intentioned girl, who lived life just searching for kindred spirits to connect with. However, there was so much more to Anne than her loving spirit and good intentions. She sometimes acted without thinking and took chances. But, she was a born leader who could have had her image in the dictionary, right next to the word, stubborn. When I put that piece into place, I knew instantly that this was it. I didn’t need to find a different alias. I had just needed to view this one through the correct lens.
With that in mind, let me tell you a little more about my Kindred Spirit. She is creative and colorful. She loves to paint and has just started working on her first ever self portrait. It is her first time trying to paint an ‘actual person’ as she puts it. Up to this point, she has largely done cartoon characters, some sunsets and a few other random things. She loves to bake and makes some of the yummiest molasses cookies I have ever tasted. (Gluten free even.) She has crocheted I don’t even know how many blankets now. She has given every single one of them away. She loves to read, particularly fairytales and young adult fantasy. Her favorite author of this genre is K.M. Shea.
To give you an idea of what a scary brave person she is, let me tell you about what happened when she was five. You remember when you were little and you would do something and your mom would say, ‘Why did you do that?’ And you would respond something along the line of, ‘Well, so’n’so did it.’ Then your mom would say, ‘If so’n’so jumped off a bridge would you?’ Yeah, I never got to use that one with the Kindred Spirit, because I already knew what the answer to that question was going to be!
We had gone canoeing with a group of people and we got to the end of the ride and there was a bridge right there crossing the river. Some of the people that we were with, including my husbands cousin, starting jumping off the bridge into the water. The Kindred Spirit stood there watching this for a few minutes before she turned to me and told me that she wanted to do that. At which point, I proceeded to have a heart attack. (Not literally.) I wanted so bad to just tell her no, that she was too little or that it was just a terrible idea, but in that moment, I just knew that if I told her no, I was opening the door to fear. And I didn’t want that for her either. I wanted her to be as brave as she could be. I wanted her to not shy away from life or look at it with uncertainty and fear. So, together, we climbed up onto the railing and for a moment, we just stood there, our fingers entwined. And then I felt her as she began to bend her knees and push off and together we leapt off the bridge. A moment of weightlessness later and we hit the water and passed down into the water. Then my feet lightly brushed the river bed before settling more firmly. A half a second later, my hand under her and she soared back to the surface. We swam to the edge and climbed up onto the shore. Then she looked at me, eyes shining and said, ‘Again.’
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