Pinky Promise

In our home, we often discuss the best parts of our days together. We used to do it all the time when Amelia was around three years old, but we got away from it. So every once in a while, one of us will ask, "What was the best part of your day?" Emerson fell asleep promptly while we were reading our nightly installment of the fairy books. So, after we finished the book, I laid my head next to Amelia's and said, "What was the best part of your day?" to which she replied, "I didn't have one..." I sat up and looked at her and she immediately started giggling. I narrowed my eyes at her and said, "Your giggle tells me otherwise. Did you have a good moment today?" She said, "No...but I had a funny moment. I couldn't run very fast today because of my outfit so I need to plan better tomorrow." This week is spirit week at the girls' school and today was "formal day." Amelia didn't really have a formal dress so after much begging and manipulation, she wore her Halloween costume dress to school. It is a beautiful full, puffy, glittery dress that is stunning on her and makes her look completely grown up! But apparently, it is not the best to run in. "Why was it hard to run in? Oh no! It wasn't PE day was it?" "No..." "Were you playing soccer? Or basketball in your princess dress?" "No..." "Oh...well, you said it was hard to run in so I was just wondering what you were playing." "Well, I wasn't exactly playing...the boys were chasing me and I kept having to hike my dress up so I wouldn't step on it. You know how embarrassing it is to have a boy catch you because of your dress? I would have died!" Oh my Amelia! Chasing boys...at six...in first grade. And I'm pretty sure some of those boys' mommas read my blog! :) I asked her what happens when the boys catch them and she said, "Duh mommy...we chase them back. And guess what? TODAY, we chased them and finally caught them, despite my dress being too long, and you know what? They didn't want to chase us back. So, we said that we would chase them again, but they had to pinky promise to take their turn after we caught them. So they did...and then we caught them. And do you know what?! (in her most exasperated voice!) THEY DIDN'T CHASE US!! What is this world coming to when you can't trust a pinky promise!" What is this world coming to indeed! A pinky promise is so important to a six-year-old. And when I think of my little girl sounding so dumb-founded that someone would go back on a pinky promise, it makes me think of all the other promises that are broken...all the other promises that people make to each other that just get tossed by the wayside. Campaign promises. Wedding vows. Promise to help. Promises to quit smoking. Promises to get jobs done. Promises to return things that have been borrowed. Promises are broken all the time. The value of a promise is gone. It means nothing anymore when some people say, "I promise!" Things have happened in my life that has exasperated me just as much as Amelia was taken back by the boys not keeping their pinky promise. It is a sad state of affairs that we live in when promises are broken, when people go back on their word. There are still people in my life that when they promise something to me, I will believe that they will follow through on their word, but those people become less and less all the time. Too many times, people promise things without thinking about the promise...without thinking about what they are saying to the other person. For example, someone the other day promised to do something for us, but the time is drawing near and it is not going to be done. When I called and asked the person about it, they very casually said, "Oh, you really wanted that done?" Um...yes! That was important to me and when I hear "I promise..." I'm still pretty naive and assume that it is going to get done. That there will be some sort of follow through. But time and time again, promises are broken. People find ways out of the promise. They find loopholes, or change their story, or blame me for really believing that they were actually going to follow through. So, if there's any lesson that I've learned in broken promises, it is that I will not break my promises. I'm very careful with who I promise things to, and if I feel like I cannot fulfill that promise, then I will not make it. It feel like it's better to be honest with people and let them know that you are busy, or that you just can't make it happen, rather than fill people with false hope and false excitement only to have you back out on your promise. The people in my life are very important to me, and I would prefer to keep them in my life and keep their importance. So, I always do my best to keep my promises to people, no matter how I can make that happen. And it is important to me to be able to maintain the same level of trust with my friends and family, even as life gets busier and busier. So, I will always be honest with you and let you know if I'm too busy to help out, or not able to follow through with something, and I will always keep my word...I promise!