Left In.

Kaity is almost 9 yrs old, my sister Sarah is almost 16. There has never been a time when Kaity didn't think that Sarah was the coolest girl ever. She dubbed her TTSW when she was little and sounding out Auntie Sarah, over time she has just become TeeTee or T. The difference in age wasn't horrible when Kaity was a baby. Tt loved to dote on her and enjoyed being copied, followed and sought after by the ever enamoured Kaity. The past few years the age difference has become more and more apparent. T is out of toys in and into boys, Kaity longs for the imaginations at play that she and T would spend hours on. It isn't a laying of blame, it's just the pain of growing up. We went to my moms for graduation and Kaity was leery about hanging out with T. You see, to Kaity, it feels like T no longer likes her. That she's not cool enough to hang out with Ttsw. Inevitably every single time we see ttsw lately Kaity ends up with hurt feelings. Sometimes she cries, other times she just sucks it up, but it always makes my heart ache for her. We've started talking about the 'filter' you view things through. This trip I told Kaity if she felt left out she needed to tell me before it hurt her feelings so we could deal with it. That sometimes when you anticipate feeling badly or having a bad time then you become more sensitive to it. Instead go in with a happy heart and the expectation of having fun. The day after we got to my moms Kaity asked me to come into the bedroom and pray with her. She was feeling left out and her feelings were hurting she said. We prayed. Prayed that she would have fun, that ttsw would have fun, that feelings wouldn't be hurt and that we could celebrate graduation with happy hearts. Kaity left the room with a smile on her face and not 10 minutes later Sarah approached me and asked if she could take Kaity with her and a friend to get their nails done. Sarah knew nothing of Kaity's prayers, of Kaity's angst and hurt feelings. I am so thankful to a God that cares about the feelings of my baby girl. Kaity got to hang out with the big girls all afternoon. They went to lunch, got their nails done, and listened to music while hanging out with one of Sarah's friends who was the driver. I am also thankful that Gods grace was not lost on my almost 9 yr old. She came home and whispered "I feel left in Mom, we prayed and God made me feel left in!"