Gratitude Practice 2023 Nov 21: My Kid…The Next Big Taylor Swift Concert Producer

My kid, like many her age, has an almost shameful collection of tiny plastic toys that without questions are her favorite treasures. The plastic Happy Meal Barbie is clearly the tallest (pish…figures) measuring a bold five inches and the smallest is a crappy plastic Halloween spider that is maybe a measly half inch in diameter. This gang of childhood wonders live inside a large glass jar which remains on our main level and is the perfect size for her to not only minister to this sweet congregation but she can easily access and love on them individually. We've got small Disney heros, a handful of big stretchy flippy guys, some weird small keychain stuffies and far too many trinkets from gumball machines and kids meals…don't judge this working mama. Without question these tiny treasures are her favorite and most played with toys and somehow seem to multiply without any effort. Lest you think this collection is a random jar of kid junk my kid knows and remembers and feels great affinity for all of them…there are no lost sheep in this fold.

Tonight, while waiting for our dinner to bake, she brought her jar to the counter and slowly and carefully liberated each tiny creature and set them up facing our small Google home screen. She asked if I would help organize “the audience” and provided instructions as to where each “guest” should be placed. She continued to refer to them as “the audience” and respectfully rearranged the friends that I carelessly mis-placed. Once the strange pink plastic pony, a new item that until tonight I had never seen before, was perched at the front of the gathering she announced it was time for the Taylor Swift concert to begin and proceeded to tell Google to play. While I was showing “the guests” to their seats she had called up a few of Taylor's best hits thanks to her robot BFF and generously hosted her very own TSwift concert in our kitchen.

I love nothing more than this kid and her endless creativity. Grateful, forever grateful, to be her mom and watch her sample the world in her very own way. Grateful for her keen attention to detail and her devotion and love for even the tiniest plastic spider. Grateful for her endless imagination and I'm down right delighted to watch her tip toe from childhood to early adolescence. Of course her tiny plastic besties would not only enjoy a private TSwift concert in our kitchen stadium…but duh, mom …they already know all of the words. Of course they do, darling …what was I thinking. Grateful for her kindness and generosity and funny little way. This sacred jar of tiny girl childhood treasure will probably forever live on my coffee table or bookcase as I always want to remember these magical Sarah Kate days. Grateful for childhood and tiny plastic besties, and the force that is Taylor Swift and mostly for the chance I have to tag along on this epic adventure.