Poem: March 8, 2019

The Mirrors We Are Given

My 10-year-old daughter received a lovely note home
from her Math teacher yesterday. The purpose
of which was to report on her impressive progress
in mathematics, but which also included the adjectives
"beautiful", "determined", and "kind." The total package.
One can imagine a life full of possibilities and free
from the usual limits that hold other people back
based on the content of this note. My girl, the triple threat!
The combination starlet-inventor-humanitarian!
The rare, true artist and polymath celebrated in her own time!
The humble, hard-working, and charming mother of nations!
A Renaissance woman and servant-leader! Our best hope!
And, of course, she is all of these things to her mother and I,
so it seemed appropriate to share her teacher's words
with her last evening as we prepared our dinner together;
and this is where we spot the poison in the cup:
my daughter said, "I can't believe she said beautiful. I'm not."