Hands Free Life by Rachel Macy Stafford

Author:Rachel Macy Stafford
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2015-07-01T04:00:00+00:00

SEE WHAT IS GOOD TO BECOME A NOTICER

Avery handed me her fall progress report. It displayed a steady stream of happy check marks in all the positive boxes. There was just one check mark standing dejectedly alone from all the others.

“How am I doing, Mom?” my child asked with a level of maturity that did not match the small disheveled person gazing up at me through smudged eyeglasses that teetered on the end of her nose.

I looked at her. Her flyaway hair and dirty knees indicated it had been a good day at school. I looked back at the progress report, then back to her again. Her face, lovely and round, still held traces of baby — unlike Natalie’s face, which had suddenly elongated into an adult-like oval without so much as a warning. Finally, once more, I glanced back to the progress report and the one lonely check mark.

Before I consciously realized I’d made a decision, my face broke into an encouraging smile. I gathered my child into my arms and pressed my lips against her silky, smooth cheek. Before I spoke, I briefly closed my eyes and offered up a silent prayer of gratitude; she had come so far in a year’s time. “You’re doing great. You’re doing just fine.” I whispered into her ear, my voice containing a mixture of emotion and happiness. I decided I would not say anything about the low check mark or the words written beside it. This was just something that didn’t need to be said right now . . . or perhaps ever.

But this child, with her bright blue eyes and sassy rose-rimmed glasses, misses nothing.

“What does that say?” With her small pointer finger, she tapped the neatly printed words that flowed out from the check mark that sat apart from the others.

Inside my head, I read the words: Distracted in large groups. But I already knew this. I knew this before it was written on an official report card. This news was no surprise to me. You see, each day this child comes home with an astute observation:

“Max has a group of warts on his right knee. There are exactly nineteen. I counted them.”

“Miss Stevens got a new haircut. She got layers put in. It looks really pretty.”

“Miss Evans eats Greek yogurt every single day. I think her favorite flavor is peach because she brings that one a lot!”

“Sarah is a wonderful artist. She can draw butterflies that look like they could fly off the page!”

And outside the school walls, it’s no different.

“That waitress sure is working hard. We should leave a little extra money on the table.”

“That man is texting and driving. He is going to hurt himself or someone else.”

“Grandpa is slower than the rest of us. We should wait.”

“Look out the window, everybody! Look at the gorgeous view!”

Distracted or observant? Distracted or perceptive? Distracted or empathic? I choose observant . . . perceptive . . . empathic.

“What does it say, Mama?” My child was growing impatient to learn the meaning of those words she could not yet read herself.

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