Lucy has strep throat. I went to retrieve her today at Dougherty Arts Camp and found her in a little heap sucking her thumb, a collage clutched in her hand instead of Duck.

She wanted to sit on my lap in the exam room at the doctor’s office because she was cold. The doctor was running late, so we had plenty of time to sing songs about birds: Three Little Birds, Blackbird, Little Bird, Up in the Air Junior Birdmen (not strictly about birds, but hey).

Sickness sucks, but it does slow life down in a pretty special way. And a blueberry-peach-mango-yogurt-ice-cream smoothie certainly enhances the moment.

Lucy: Dad, can we watch The Aristocats?

Jason: No, the rental expired.

Lucy: What?

Jason: We rented it. We paid money to borrow it. Like you borrow a book from the library.

Lucy: But what did we rent?

Jason: The movie.

Lucy: No, but when you go to the library, it’s a book, there’s a thing. There’s no thing.

Jason: Well, there is a thing, but it’s in iTunes.

Lucy: But where is it?

I had to stop listening. She really could have asked about God and Jason would have had an easier time explaining it to her.

Lucy’s summer schedule is a patchwork of different camps and trips. Right now she’s at a nearby day camp, which she seems to be enjoying. I hesitated slightly before putting her into it, because Emily reminded me that in college and she our friend Tiffany were counselors there and they spent a lot of time “hungover and wishing for a cigarette.” I have not inspected Lu’s counselors terribly closely, but I do know a couple of things about them…

1) They are charming. Lu has  a crush on a counselor named Matthew. For the third day in a row, she has written him a message on her lunchbag: “Mr. Matthew cannot touch because he’s silly. P.S. I’m serees.” See photo below.

2) They are enterprising. Last Thursday, one of the counselors had the bright idea that instead of water playtime, they should just have the campers wash her car. Which they did, and loved.

Hilarious? Alarming?

Her first year of school slipped away from me. I wish I could gather it back up to remember better. She had a great year, got everything she needed out of school, namely a love of learning and an enthusiasm for school.

She was lucky to have Ms. P this year, a teacher who really seemed to understand and appreciate Lu, despite the challenges she presented in the classroom (constant talking and singing, persistent pushing of her own agenda, disruption of others). We got her final report card, which said (brag warning): “The breadth and depth of Lucy’s knowledge are remarkable. Couple that with her curiosity — great things lie ahead. Because she is a great reader and she picks up math concepts easily, I would focus on helping her develop her writing skills. I can see her writing plays and using her creativity to bring those plays into production with music, costumes, scenery…She will be a strong student in the first grade.”

We can’t make our children anyone other than who they are. Lu proves this to me every day. But “curious” and “creative” are the two qualities I would hand pick for any child of mine to have. Lucky us.