At some point in everyone's life, they come up with the perfect dream for their future. Well, almost everyone does. I never really knew (and still don't know) what I wanted to do with my life which is a big reason why I spent eight years working in a job that wasn't exactly my cup of tea. That's ok though because it taught what I don't want to do when I try to find a grown-up job again.
In some ways though, Ellie is leaps and bounds ahead of me. For example, at the tender age of four, she's already figured out what she wants to do for the rest of her life. She wants to be an artist!
Now, the thing about Ellie being four is that her dream job changes several times a year. In the past, she's wanted to be an astronaut, a zookeeper, an accountant, a farmer, and a mom. While none of those jobs are farfetched (except maybe astronaut), I can actually see Ellie succeeding as an artist. That's especially true when you consider Ellie's favorite hobby of making greeting cards.
Ever since she was capable of creating "works of art", Ellie has prided herself on making "gifts" for the people in her life. Bethany and I actually have received more random pieces of paper than we can count from Ellie. Since they all have deep emotional ties for Ellie, we find ourselves unable to part with them without emotionally destroying our daughter. Therefore, we now have piles and piles of art projects laying around the house of varying quality.
The first of these projects basically consisted of crayon scribbles, haphazardly placed stickers, and ill-folded sheets of paper. As Ellie has matured, so has the quality of these projects. Some of her newer works include hand-drawn pictures of the kids and us accompanied by the ever-present "I Love You." It's actually incredibly sweet and never fails to warm my heart each time I receive one.
Yesterday, for the first time, Bethany thought to ask Ellie why she enjoys making cards so much. Ellie for her part had an answer prepared without having to give nary a thought. "Cards make people feel special." I can't be certain but that sounds like a slogan that a greeting card company would come up with. Either that or a marketing firm hired to represent a greeting card company. My point is still valid though.
Armed with this information, I decided to make Ellie feel special by making a greeting card for her while she was at preschool. First of all, I had to decide the medium of choice. While I could make one on the PC, that seemed a little impersonal for my daughter who I love. My next thought was to cut pieces out of construction paper and glue it onto another sheet. At the risk of sounding like a bad parent though, I didn't want to go to that much effort. It was then that I saw Ellie's watercolors still out on the table from this morning's craft time and knew I had my answer.
Arming myself with a white piece of printer paper, I started by folding it in half. Then, taking my paintbrush in hand, I first dipped the brush into yellow paint and drew a spiral shape on the front cover. Then, I washed my brush and dipped it in orange and began creating heat lines coming off the spiral. Before I knew it, I had a fun little tribal sun design.
On the inside, I wrote a cute, little note for Ellie to read but still found myself with a rather large area to fill. Therefore, I just decided to have some and use every color in her paint set to create a rainbow. By the time I was done with her card, I was pretty proud of myself.
As for Ellie, she was ecstatic. In fact, upon seeing the card I left at the table for her, she bubbled over with joy. The smile couldn't have been surgically removed from her face in that moment. Throughout the rest of the day, she even referenced the card several times and made sure to mention how special it made her feel and why.
I legitimately love how such a small gesture of love made Ellie feel so special. Now, here's hoping that's still the case when she reaches her teenage years. #DaddyWrite
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