"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” - Maya Angelou

I love, LOVE Maya Angelou.  I always have.  I was talking with a friend today who was concerned about her apraxic son talking so he can get a job one day.  In the midst of apraxia, in the midst of our children not speaking, us parents all get caught up in the thick, dense trees.  We all, including myself, miss the forest.  In the end, we all ultimately just want our kids to be happy.  We want them to have every opportunity to fulfill their dreams, which is why we cry, worry, and agonize over all the details.  Just recently, I've been kept up at night thinking about how my daughter needs to not only be able to point to letters, but she has to learn their names and sounds before Kindergarten.  Yes, she has one more year of Pre-K, but we already know her attention is an issue and she needs more repetition than most and she has apraxia which means even when she knows the letters she has word finding issues and...and...and.....

and...I stopped myself to remember the forest.  I want above all for Ashlynn to be happy.  This picture is from a shirt she wears that her Grandma Green bought her.  It is her to a tee, pun intended.  She is silly, she is happy, she is sweet, and she is kind.  I think the world needs more children and people like this.  

The political outlook has no time for this.  It's all about Race to the Top, No Child Left Behind, and more recently, the Common Core.  It's all about test scores and academic achievement.  Teachers are judged on their ability to teach by a test score.  

The world has and will have enough big test scores.  What the world needs more of, is big, happy hearts.  As Maya Angelou says, "people will forget what you said."  In my desire to hear her talk, I was really looking for the feeling of being told, "mommy, I love you."  If we listen close, it's the little hand that reaches out to us, it's in their hug and their big sloppy kiss that they might have because they have yet to pucker, and we know in their tears when we leave.  My daughter's heart is on her sleeve, and in her young four years she epitomizes already what Jesus said in John 3:18  

My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.  

and defies what Einstein mused on when he said,

"“Action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often.” 

Our kids' actions already speak louder than words!! They have learned a lesson in life some people fail to learn.  Though my daughter is talking in basic 4-6 word sentences now, she is still sweet, kind, and happy, and will still hug, smile, giggle, and hold someone's hand over talking.  People don't remember what she said or what she didn't say.  Everyone remembers how she makes them feel. 

 If this is the woman she is destined to become, than I think I can say as her mother she is successful.