Sage prays for the people of Syria every night in her personal prayers, and she has done so consistently and diligently every day since she heard about the Syrian conflict. I am amazed that she still remembers as the world is forgetting. I told her she is so kind to remember the people of Syria in her prayer, and she gave me a deep smile. And that smile on her delicate features in the dim night light made her looked just like an angel. So I said, "Why are you such an angel?" She took a second to think and responded: "'Cause you were such an angel when  you were little." I have to admit I was a little blown away by her answer.
I said: "Why are you so kind?" The reply: "Cause you were so kind when you were little." I asked, " Why are you so nice?" She smiled: "Cause you were so nice when you were little." Finally, "Why are you so sweet?" Came the reply: " Cause you were so sweet when you were little."

I gave her a big kiss, and told her: "You are my sunshine!" She loves that, her eyes always twinkle when I say that to her.

The other day, I had to pick her up early from school to go to an appointment. Sage loves it when I check her out early because it means more time for playing. But I could tell something was different this time as I watched her walking towards me from her classroom; her shoulders were slumped, and there was a distinct lack of enthusiasm. After we were sitting in the doctor's office, I asked her why she didn't seem happy. She told me with very sad looking eyes that she hadn't gotten a turn in the lion dance yet.

"Oh yeah! The Chinese New Year's party!!" I had forgotten she had a party that day, and immediately realized how much that meant to her. With Sage, everything is a party, and to actually have a party in the classroom would just make her world complete.
"Yes." She continued: "and we were taking turns to be in the lion's dance.. and it wasn't my turn yet. And I didn't get to color the Chinese character that means luck either, I am suppose to color it and cut it and hang it on the tree. I don't like getting checked out early anymore..."

I felt truly sad for her. I can see Sage enjoys all of that fun stuff. I wished I had switched the doctor's appt so she could participate in the lion's dance. I told her how sorry I was that she wasn't able to participate. Then I did what any mother would have done, wrapped her up in a big hug. We stayed like that for a while.

Then, this little girl who I call my sunshine leaned close to my face and said softly: "It's ok, mama, I love being with you so much more."

Well, that brought tears to my eyes. It's not every day in the life of a mother that you get to hear such sweet tender words...

Fast forward to yesterday. We ran some errands together. I had parked the car by median where a few pink cherry blossom trees were in full bloom. After the errand, we walked to our car and were about to get in, when Sage exclaimed, "Oh blossoms!!!... Let me enjoy them for a while." She skipped and hopped to the median, looked at the trees, fiddled with the flowers that had fallen to the grass, and picked some to give to me. She enjoyed the blossoms. And I enjoyed her.

And again this morning, Andrew tried to wake Sage up for school. And he ended up tickling her, and Sage LOVES being tickled. She asks to be tickled just for fun all the time. After she had sufficiently woken up, I suspect by the tickling, I heard Andrew's footstep leaving her room, and Sage sang after him: "Thanks for the tickles!!!"

How can anyone not love that girl. She totally lives in the moment. So random. So unpredictable. So Fun!