My youngest, a daughter, will be 11 on May 5th.
She is always smiling, and has the most devilish giggle for a little girl.
She's been plotting her rise to world domination since the age of 8, when she created a list of things she may need to accomplish this.
It doesn't include an army, WMD's of any sort- not even a cosmic death ray- nothing you'd suppose it to include.
No, it had things like "16 bendy straws" and "45 pounds of butter". My favorite though was when she had already handed the list of about 7 different items in various quantities to me to peruse, when she exclaimed, "Wait! I forgot!" and took it back, quickly writing three little words that still give me the shivers- "One air vent".
What goes through the mind of such a child as this?
She has perfect pitch, a beautiful soprano voice. She's teaching herself the keyboard and the tin whistle. She is a straight A student, with a proclivity towards maths and sciences, even though reading and writing are her loves. In one hand she will have a biography of Nikola Tesla and "Aragon" in the other, and not to forget the ever present notebook tucked under an arm. She learned how to work out Einstein's theory of relativity before she was 9, looking up the speed of light, and plugging in an arbitrary number for mass.
She has Happy Bunny posters next to her poster sized pictures from the Hubble of our own dear Sol, and the Crab Nebula.
She has a creative streak a mile wide, creating wonderfully odd sculptures for me, and beautiful Kabuki figures for my room mate. She is performing on her birthday, singing the "Connemara Lullaby" at the school talent show.
She talks to our animals as if she were one of them, with an uncanny knack for knowing what will make them happy.
Yes, if she wants to, she could accomplish any goal she may have, and do it with a dimpled grin, and that giggle.
