Oh, to be 5 again...

As soon as I walk through the doors of the elementary school, Sophia sees me and runs to hug me around my 

Can I please go back to hot summer sprinkler days? 

legs. She bypasses her brother- my boyfriend- in the process, and his heart breaks a little every time. To her, I have now become her “sister” and was even put on the family tree she made in her art class and hung outside her Kindergarten classroom. 

To her, I am her fellow princess stranded in a castle far far away, her hair and nail stylist, or her subject for nail and hair styling (yikes!), her “pusher” on the swing set, and her friend to cuddle up and watch movies with. She also adores my two dogs, Wrigley and Lola. So much so that her parents are surprising her with her own dog on Christmas morning this year, and I couldn’t be more excited for her. She tells me all about the annoying boys in her class, especially Fernando who sits next to her, and added an extra “S” to the front of her name on a worksheet they were doing. “What am I supposed to do with two S’s?!” she says, frustrated and anxious at the thought of what was her biggest problem of the day. 

To me, Sophia is a reminder of the little girl I used to be. As the older sister of two boys, (Tanner, 20 and Casen, 11) I am delighted to play dress up and so interested in her little innocent imagination. Innocent. That is what I value most about Sophia. Her worries are so small, and can be cured with a lollipop or being tickled to death. With her, I go back to the days where I was a restless little girl in a world that was so much smaller than it is today. I see a world full of magic and happily ever afters and extraordinary dreams in her eyes that slowly dim as people grow older. She is my breath of fresh air, my fountain of youth, and my inspiration to see things from a child's innocent and curious perspective  every once in a while. I am so excited to watch and help Sophia grow, but secretly wish she could stay my five-year-old best friend forever. 

-Brittani Pedersen