Amy’s beautiful daughters are ready for school.
Happy Back to School Season! My kids started school last week and I am loving life again. It became obvious to me over the summer how important alone time is for mothers. By the last week of summer, the anthem playing in my head was Carol Burnett’s version of Little Girls from the movie Annie:
“Little girls
Little girls
Everywhere I turn I can see them
Little girls
Little girls”
Two significant things happened in my home during that last week of summer, besides having Carol Burnett stuck in my head. My sweet McKenzie, age 5, started kindergarten! All of my children attended a private, Christian preschool at a historically black church and they wore uniforms to school every day from the age of 2. McKenzie was tickled pink to be able to wear real clothes to “big girl school” and it was during the time of assembling outfits for the first week of school that she broke the news to me. It went something like this:
“Mommy”
“Yes, McKenzie”
“I am a big girl now and I am going to kindergarten in a few days.”
“Yes, I know.”
“Well, big girls don’t wear puff balls. It’s time to get some twists.”
“Well, okay then.”
So off we went to the bathtub to wash, condition and twist her hair in the same way I have done for with my older daughter. Unfortunately, (or fortunately”>, McKenzie’s hair is different from Madison’s hair and I found it difficult to keep the two strand twists from puffing up and eventually untwisting. The situation clearly called for a professional.
So off we went to the Jae Undreas Salon to see Mr. Jesse, who twisted this child’s hair over the course of two hours into the beautiful creation you see here in this back-to-school picture. Jesse worked with me to explain the best way to keep the twists from puffing up was to moisturize from the root to the tip of each small section. Well, two weeks later and the twists are still gorgeous and McKenzie is still strutting her stuff, feeling beautiful and oh so grown up minus the puff balls. Sending her off to kindergarten wasn’t nearly as difficult after seeing her confidence level sky rocket with her crown of beauty.
The other giant event in my life that took place the same week as kindergarten was the birth of my book, “Brown Babies Pink Parents.” After two years of writing and growing and living, my book debuted on Sunday, August 22, to 100 members of the adoption community of Austin in a beautiful ballroom of an Austin hotel. The day was magical for me. My parents flew in from Savannah, my mother’s two sisters came from Maryland and California, friends from Dallas and Atlanta came to town, and I was able to share my stories and lessons of transracial parenting with the world. I will never forget the day or the feeling of being exactly where God intended me to be. I am thankful beyond measure to be the mother of these three little girls, despite the Carol Burnett song in my head, and to have the opportunity to share my experiences with the world.
