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Every Little Thing by April Jeppson

I was sitting at the kitchen table talking to my oldest daughter. Emma got home late and was finally eating her dinner. She’s very animated as she replays the events of the day. Her eyes light up when she remembers something. I can tell that she’s starving, but it’s not stopping her. With a mouth full of food she chews as fast as she can so she can continue sharing her excitement.

She’s always been a full bodied communicator. As a toddler, she’d put her arms above her head as she talked to us. I’m not sure if she was capable of speaking without moving her hands. I’m still not sure if she could do it.

My son is currently making a movie. He’s had this vision in his mind forever and has been feverishly working on it for the last two weeks. Our home has been busy with his friends coming over every night to film. As much as I enjoy peace and quiet in the evenings, it’s been fun to watch this play out.

Hans is 2 1/2 years older than his sister, and they get along pretty well. I’ve had friends ask if they are always like that or if they normally fight. They do get annoyed with each other occasionally, but honestly, I can’t complain. I was a little surprised to find out that he cast her as the main character in his movie — I mean they’re still siblings.

So every night we have one or two of his classmates over to film and she’s been with them. Every night as they are plotting, planning and laughing hysterically, she’s been with them. So tonight as she’s scarfing down food at 8 p.m., she’s excitingly telling me all about her adventures with all of them.

I can see now why he’d want her in his movie. Even as she’s doing something as simple as eating dinner, she’s enjoyable to watch. She’s peeling the skin off her twice baked potato with her fingers and it’s almost a dance. Peel a little then take a bite, peel a little more and she takes another.

She’s currently telling me how she had to make herself cry for one of the scenes tonight. She had to cry for a scene earlier this week as well, so I asked her how she does it. She told me all her tricks and what she thinks about to make herself sad.

My daughter is an introvert that gets overwhelmed and easily annoyed when she’s had too much people time. As an extrovert, I’ve found that crying can be therapeutic, but it also drains me. I need a good cry every now and then, but then I also usually need a nap or a good night’s sleep. I can’t help but think how exhausting this must be for her.

She admitted that she does kind of want to punch people right now, but otherwise she’s good. I had a completely different day than she did, but I responded with “Same girl, same.” She giggled, got up and put her dishes in the sink. Before she left the room she told me that she loved me and kissed me on the top of the head. Again, my heart is full.

Albert Lean April Jeppson is a wife, mom, coach and encourager of dreams. Her column appears every Saturday.