Some Things Never Change

As all my kids have grown up, I’ve noticed that they have personality traits and habits that stay with them even as they learn and grow. These are things like the way they hold their fork, their tendency to stand a certain way or their food preferences. Where Malia is concerned, some of those traits were evident before she was ever born. In her ultrasounds, of which there were many due to my age being over 35 and my tendency towards gestational diabetes, she always had her ankles crossed and tucked up tight underneath her little bottom. It made determining her gender troublesome. As a baby, she did the exact same thing. Even when she was old enough to sit up in the highchair, she would cross her ankles ever so daintily. She has hated green beans since her very first mouthful. She is still a people person, talking comfortably with nearly everyone (a tendency that led me to have many conversations about stranger danger when she was just a toddler and preschooler). One of my favorite pictures of Malia as a baby is one where she is laughing. She would throw her head back and give in to glee. She still does that, leaning her head back to she can have a good laugh.

I had another one of those “she is still the same person” moments today. Nathan, Malia and I went out to lunch and then to see a movie. At lunch she was eating chicken fingers and French fries-her typical eating out meal of choice for most of her life (although she is beginning to expand her choices nowadays). She just happened to get one enormously long fry and told me that we should put it on the blog. Five years ago, we went to see Disney on Ice and then out to dinner afterward. Although she is twice as old and twice as tall now, the scenario was identical. 

Some things never change. I think that is one of the things I love the most about the gospel. We know we existed before our earth lives. We know we will continue to exist after this life. We know that our personalities and the knowledge and skills we gain in this life will remain with us. That means that in the eternities, I will still get to watch Malia throw back her head for a good laugh. And she will probably still think an enormous French fry is newsworthy material. I hope she never loses that sense of wonder and whimsy for the interesting things life has to offer and always finds joy in the simple things.