Lauryn-Elizabeth Reed Dewberry is the second and last child in our family. When she was born, I remember wondering how I could possibly love her as much as I loved my oldest daughter, Olivia. But Lauryn-Elizabeth solved that problem for me immediately, because she is so very lovable.
I have never known anyone with such an inexhaustible love for life and for others. While she has very definite dreams and plans for her own life (she wants to be a rock star), her focus tends to be on others and how she can help someone else. Last year, she created a charity called H.E.L.P. (Help Extra-Loved Pets) This was a charity based on raising money for animals that were in the shelter here in Pell City. She raised an amount of money, and we took it to the Humane Society. She was not even proud, but instead, just wanted to start raising more. Anytime she gets money for her birthday, or Christmas, she always wants to give it to the church, or buy something for someone else with it. Her heart is always looking for ways to serve someone else.
She is unrelenting in her positive spirit. Nothing ever seems to bring her down for long. One thing that will give her pause is when she sees unfairness in the world. She is still so rosy-eyed, that when she finds something that should not be, it rocks her a bit and she will talk to me about ways to fix the injustice she has come across. She has such a tender heart that I fear all the time that it will get broken into pieces one day.
She wakes up every day singing, and pretty much does not stop until it is bedtime. She makes up songs all the time, and always wants to share them with me. One of my favorite moments in time occurred when she was about 5 or 6, and had written me a song during free time at school. It was all about how much she loved me and would always be my little girl, no matter how old she grew. I have that on video, and still sing it to myself on occasion.
Lauryn-Elizabeth is also very creative. She writes songs, comes up with dance routines and gymnastics routines. She loves to write stories, too. She is a fantastic artist. I save scrap paper for her and she will create the most elaborate things with something that others would have thrown in the trash.
She is also very athletic and loves to play soccer and basketball. She will even start football in a few weeks.
She LOVES pigs.
One thing that I simply love about her is how affectionate she is. She hugs her family, and tells us she loves us and kisses us constantly. Her daddy calls her “snuggable,” because she is SO cuddly and sweet all the time. I love her so much.
Lauryn-Elizabeth is one of those rare souls that simply has no room for second rate in her own life. She really wants to be the best at everything, and so she pushes herself to strive for excellence. She has never made anything but an A on a report card, and is in Gifted. I am forever amazed at her.
I could fill page after page of stories that show her warmth and affection, or that tell of her striving for excellence, but I will end with a story from this summer.
On July 4th, we were in Fairhope with some family watching the fireworks over the Mobile Bay. We had been waiting for a few hours for the show to start, and Lauryn-Elizabeth had used that time to work on a sand castle. She had created a pretty elaborate castle with several turrets and a bridge and moat. She was very proud of it, but we stopped her building so she could eat supper with us. She was very worried that the castle would get stepped on (there were kids playing football nearby), and made her father and I promise to watch it carefully as we ate and protect it. We were nearly done with our food, and had “saved” her sand castle several times from being smashed by different kids.
And then it happened.
A group of teenagers went racing by, and one of the girls in the group stepped right on the middle of Lauryn-Elizabeth’s creation. It was like slow motion. Kevin yelled “No!” I screamed “Oh No!” and the poor girl who did the deed stopped dead in her tracks, covered her mouth and breathed a deep, “I’m so sorry!” I stared at her open mouthed for a moment, and then swiveled around to check on Boo (Lauryn-Elizabeth). She was crushed. Her face crinkled into tears and disbelief.
And then, she stopped. She squared her shoulders, relaxed her face, walked over to the squashed creation, knelt down, and began to fix the disaster. I watched her calmly make the choice, not to yell at the girl, or even to cry over the disaster, but instead, to set herself to re-creating what had been destroyed.
Later on, I asked her, “What made you change? You started to cry, and then you did not. What were you thinking?” Her reply was, “I just decided that there was no reason to be sad about it, when I could just go fix it.” That’s my Lauryn-Elizabeth-an eternal optimist, and one who would rather see the good, than see the bad.
I am so glad that Mrs Smart asked me to write this. It was so fun writing about my Boo!
