Kamea: To bring Grandpa back.
I was silenced. It is in these moments, these interactions with my children that remind me of the true meaning, the true purpose in life...which is to love and be loved.
5 Things I learned from my 7 year old
1. No matter how old you are, knowing that you are loved and cared for is the most important thing in life.
2. To learn is to live.
Kamea is so thirsty for knowledge. She wants to learn how to do things, A LOT of things. Recently, her Aunty Sabrina Razack taught her the card game Crazy Eights and she became obsessed with playing with anyone she could find in order to master the game...and she did. She does this with everything reminding me that thirst for learning makes us human and makes us feel alive. #keeplearning
3. Having a blast with people you don't know AT ALL is easy and doing it can have major rewards
Over a year ago, I really wanted to hang out with a mentor Kim Clark who has a daughter the same age but never met Kamea before in her life. Worried, I ran to Shoppers to pick up cake mix to make some cupcakes. My goal: talk with my mentor with minimal interruptions. So we gave them the cake mix and said go! DIDN'T move from our chairs and they did it giggling with such delight we were letting them 'do it on their own'. Kamea still talks about to this day as one of her favourite memories.
4. What I fear for others has to do more my values and beliefs which can negatively impact them
Kamea wants to be a chef and an artist. Each time you ask her, that is her goal in life to the point she has now received 800 art sets and 457 cooking tools. As a parent I have my own 'expectations' for her. After reading Adam Grant's the Originals ( best book of 2016) realizing the impact of engaging in these (art/cooking)activities I let go...am fully embracing signing her up for art and cooking classes because it is about HER and she needs to feed her passion as it not only is it who she now, it will also a major part of who she will become.
5. Awesome fun memories need to be intentionally created
One of my favourite moments of 2016 is when I took a 2 hour dance workshop downtown to learn the Justin Beiber 'Sorry" choreography. I came home and asked her if she wanted to learn it and she said yes! For the next three hours we practiced, learned the dance, got dressed up like the girls in the video and DID THE DANCE all on video! She loved every second and the fun I had with her I will never forget because of the small intentionally goals along the to ensure it would be something we both could laugh about forever.
I was inspired to write this because these are the things my father taught me and I never ever want to forget it. My heart is forever broken knowing I can never be around him again and hearing my daughter say that to me this morning reminded me of how important it is stay true to your values.
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