The President, the Princess and the Book

Mami used to say "you can treat me however you like but if you show a kindness to my kid, you have my heart". A kindness is what the frog princess was shown. And for me, it defined so much about this administration in the White House. Let me say that I know not everyone is on the same page as me and I'm kinda glad about that, being the same is boring.

When we met the First Man a few weeks ago, I brought along one of my treasures. A picture book titled Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters written by President Obama.

It has been part of our library since the book came out in 2010. And when I heard that I was going to be able to bring the Frog Princess along to meet Potus, the book was one of the first thing I thought of (I think "holy crap what will she wear?!" was first).

The (ex)man had it with him as he waited and a staffer told him he could take it and get it signed. After the President's speech and the disbanding of the crowd, we stayed behind and waited.

What happened next will forever have a special nook in my heart. Jesse (and I hope I wrote his name down right when I met him) came out, book in hand. Both the (ex)man and I were standing there and he could've very easily handed it over to one of us and been on his way.

There was a young man waiting to give him a t-shirt or something and I recall Jesse telling him "give me a moment, I have to take care of something". He then proceeded to face the frog princess, lean down and speak to her. Jesse opened the book and asked her if she could see who signed the book. I know he said something else to her but I was busy taking it all in. I still get choked up telling this story.

Because you can think what you want to about me, you can ignore me, not like me, not agree with my views, etc. But taking the time to address my 4-year old? Taking the care to show her what you were handing her? Having such a clear understanding of what imprint is being left on her for the rest of her life as it relates to this particular experience? I would call the action priceless but I don't know if it does it justice.

I'm mad at myself because, while I took about 4 shots of this moment...

...I did not capture the way she ran to him and hugged him after he stood upright. For a little girl who by her own admission has been "a little shy" when meeting new people, that hug was huge.

As was the gesture and care taken with my girl. And for that, I will be forever grateful.

I'm also grateful for the words inscribed in the book. If you've known me for any period of time, you know I'm big on dreaming so this was perfection.

*yes, that's an Amazon affiliate link up there, in case you wanted to know.