Sing You Home

SAMANTHA

Even at age six, there are many things Sammy knows for sure:

That peanut butter makes her dog, Ollie, look like he’s talking real words to her.

That at night her stuffed animals come to life, or how else would they move around her bed while she’s sleeping?

That inside Mommy Zoe’s arms is the place in the world where she feels the most safe.

That when she was riding on Mama Ness’s shoulders once she actually touched the sun, and she knows for sure because she got a blister on her thumb.

That she hates hates hates getting shots at the doctor’s office and the smell of gasoline and the taste of sausages.

That whoever invented glitter was just asking for a mess.

That she can write her whole name. Even the long version.

That Annie Yu is her best friend in the whole world.

That storks don’t really bring babies. But to be honest, she doesn’t really believe Annie Yu’s description of what actually happens, either.

That bologna sandwiches are better with the crusts off.

That the best day of the year is the first time it snows every winter.

That her daddy wrapped branches from two different rosebushes together, and this summer, when the flowers come, they will look different from any other rose ever seen in the world, and he’s going to name it after her.

That when he marries Liddy, she will get to be the flower girl. (Liddy promised her this when they made a fort last weekend under the kitchen table with blankets. Even though, she said, Sammy’s father hadn’t asked her yet and what on earth was he waiting for.)

That it is not a good idea to put marshmallow Peeps in the microwave.

That when Jack LeMar made fun of her when her moms came to the winter concert, and Sammy told him he was so dumb he thought M &M’s were really W’s, it made her moms laugh really hard.

That Mama Ness is the tooth fairy. Sammy peeked.

That one day she wants to be an astronaut. Or maybe a figure skater. Or both.

That she can hold her breath underwater in the bathtub for a ridiculous amount of time and today at recess she is going to ask Annie Yu if it’s possible to be part mermaid.

That when she fell out of a tree and broke her arm and woke up in the hospital, her moms and her dad were all standing around her bed and they were so happy she was okay they forgot to yell at her for climbing the tree in the first place.

That most kids have just one mom and just one dad, but that she is not “most people.”

That, really, she is the luckiest girl in the world.