by MC Williams

Created on: May 22, 2008   Last Updated: May 28, 2008

When my daughter was five, we were getting her ready for Kindergarten. She was so excited and her father and I had been divorced, but we did everything together for her. We went and picked out clothes, supplies and anything else we thought she might need. Now she had been in pre-K so we figured socially she would be fine going into a school. Two weeks before school began we received a letter with a big headline 'MEET-N-GREET' before school begins. The letter went on to explain the school encouraged all parents to bring their kids so they could meet their classmates before they stared school, to help them going in so they would already know the kids. Well, I thought this was a great idea. The school scheduled two Saturday picnics, needless to say my daughter wanted to go to both.

The first Saturday came, and I had to go out of town for work, so my step-sister took her. Then the next Saturday came and I told my boss I was going no matter what. So, Saturday arrived and my daughter was pulling me out of bed and she couldn't wait to get there. She had been talking about Elizabeth, her new best friend she met, all week and she said Elizabeth's mommy said she would bring her. I heard Elizabeth this, Elizabeth that, Elizabeth's mommy, brother, daddy....everything my daughter knew I knew by the end of the week.

We finally get to the parking lot and my daughter saw Elizabeth and she bolted. I was left to get all the food, blankets and what-nots she had to bring. While I was by the trunk my daughter comes back and says I have to get over their to meet Elizabeth. I explained no one was leaving anytime son so relax, well five-year-olds don't relax. SO, with my hands full and my daughter pulling me we walked across the lawn and to a table where I meet Elizabeth's mom and and Elizabeth. And to my surprise, Elizabeth sat in a wheelchair and smiled up at me. She had to be one of the prettiest girls, blond hair, bright blue eyes and a huge smile.

I placed all our things down and sat next to her mother before she looked at me and smiled. "Your daughter is wonderful I wanted to tell you that, thank you."

I didn't know what to say so I just said "Your welcome. She likes Elizabeth that is all I heard about this week."

"Elizabeth was so scared to go to school and last weekend your daughter made her feel," she bowed her head and when she looked up there were tears in her eyes. "normal, I don't think she's ever felt that, so thank you." As you can imagine I had tears threatening to fall too.

Then, after a while three girls ran up and asked my daughter to go play on the swing with them. I could see Elizabeth's face fall but the small girl smiled at my daughter anyway, and my daughter looked up at them and said. "No thanks, I'm playing with Elizabeth and her legs are tired right now so we're gunna sit here."

Then, all the adults and Elizabeth were crying. Everyone, except my daughter, who never knew how powerful her words were for such a small child. I was so grateful she was my daughter and I knew we had done right by her. If at five she could be that compassionate, there were no limits to what I would see her do in life.

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