Mila has birthday money burning a hole in her pocket and Alexis ALWAYS has an urgent need to spend every penny in her possession, so the two of them combined forces and convinced me to take them shopping today. It did require convincing, by the way, because I wanted to spend the day doing yard work. I badly want to finish weeding and edging and mulching but ... WOW, do I sound like a grown-up. Maybe it's a good thing the girls won out.
ANYWAY.
There was shopping. Mila gleefully spent $46 of her own money on a stuffed animal. Alexis bought two swimsuits that I would have -never- paid actual money for. So, a win. In the midst of all that spending, the girls started playing a game. It basically was a, "If you were an XXXX, you would be XXXX." For example, "if you were a color, you would be yellow." That's Mila, for what it's worth. She's yellow. Apparently Alexis is dark blue, almost black, and I'm a sort of light denim blue.
I don't know. I just listen in on the shenanigans.
They figured out which season each of them would be, which holiday, which animal, which flower, all sorts of things. A pattern emerged very quickly - Mila is, in every instance, a cheery, joyful, warm, and sunny little being. That makes her summer, Christmas, a bunny, a sunflower, etc., etc. Mila is happiness. Whatever it is that you picture as being happiness, Mila is it. Through and through.
I poke fun at her magical ability to make poor choices, but Mila's poor choices are always driven by an urge to find more happiness. It's a thing that is going to serve her well as an adult; it just needs a little directional assistance now. Like, maybe let's not run into the street just because it's more fun to run than to walk.
My favorite thing about Mila's insistence on joy is that it cuts through everything. I can be in the -worst- mood and ready to string her up by her toes, but she'll keep on smiling through the yelling. Literally nothing can persuade her to be in a bad mood other than her own decision to be in a bad mood. The usual driver is not getting what she thinks will make her happiest, FWIW. See also: This instagram post.
Which is all to say, I already know Mila is going to have a great birthday tomorrow. The Tiny Human is turning 8 years old. An impossibility, I know, but it's also a fact. There will be cheer practice and then a day of whatever Mila wants. I'm predicting Kennywood with a Taco Bell chaser because there's not much in this world Mila likes more than those two things. Regardless, it will be happy. Mila (almost) always is.
