Dear reader, do you remember my diatribe against excessive homework several years ago?
Well I do, as if it was yesterday.
That's because my mindset has not evolved much since then. I still inwardly bristle at the truckload of worksheets and projects and assignments which clog up time I would otherwise spend eating bundt cake and pondering the deeper questions of the universe.
But I am beginning to appreciate a certain miracle which has evolved from our journey of turning shoe boxes into leprechaun traps and miniature models of the solar system and semi-functional volcanoes.
It is the miracle of the helpful older sister.
Yes, Sophie is a pro at these assignments by now. She's had years of experience. Years of using pipe cleaners to build everything from a perfectly scaled Eiffel Tower to a tiny, working, artificial heart.
So when Caroline skipped through the door the other day to announce her first major project of the year, I was just about to start breaking dishes and emergency swear word vials and anything else I could get my hands on when Sophie looked up from her book and said she'd had a vision of Caroline's assignment and knew exactly how to help her.
If that's not a miracle, I don't know what is.
Within minutes she'd drafted a diagram and list of needed supplies. Believe me, I was ready to supply a lot more than that. Cash. Cars. A small island stocked with piña coladas. But apparently the bribe of the century wasn't necessary.
Sophie was only too happy to help.
And for an entire weekend I was treated to something money cannot buy. Two sisters working side by side, collaborating, sharing ideas, cutting, pasting, drawing, coloring, laughing, talking, exclaiming with delight.
Neverland, sometimes you feel far away.
Sometimes I have to move back two spaces or lose a turn.
But you are not impossible to find.
When the clouds break and you shine through, Neverland, you are dazzling.
Filled with secret, hidden treasure.
And a little girl so happy she practically doesn't need pixie dust in order to fly.
