Her Bravery

When you look at her you see a typical 3yr old little girl. She loves princess and dress up and everything pink. She is social and loves all of her friends. She has a contagious giggle that tickles your soul. She has a heart that desires to obey and do the right thing. Behind all these layers though there is something about her that is not so typical, something that most 3yr olds don't have. She is beyond BRAVE. There is a "toughness" to her that really shouldn't be there. A courage that is beyond her years. It breaks my heart, almost to the point of tears. When I think back over the past 10 months and all the things she has lived through it amazes me how she has dealt with each challenge. She doesn't complain, doesn't whine, doesn't cry. She takes each challenge as it comes, puts on her tough/brave front and faces it head on. This year she has learned how to go potty like a big girl, become a big sister, been to 3 different schools, learned to ride a school bus, traveled 4 hours (multiple times) with someone she didn't know for visits, and just yesterday had tubes put in her ears. I was expecting yesterday to be really hard on her but once again she put on her brave front and faced it. She hugged me goodbye and walked back with the doctor with a smile on her face. She came out of surgery and didnt even shed a tear even though she was groggy and sick from the anesthesia and completely out of sorts. I told her over and over how proud I was of her and her response was "thank you". Its as though she feels that this has to be her response. She has to brave...