The Girl With The Gusto!!!

GUSTO: noun, a hearty or keen enjoyment....in action or speech in general!

Synonyms for GUSTO: enthusiasm, delight, relish, zest, spirit, ferver!

Meet Bryna Mae Payne...she's 5 years old and full of GUSTO!

I went to Bryna's "FUN IN THE SUN" day at school last Friday! The children get to do all sorts of games that involve water and getting soaking wet! We....as their parents....slather them in sunscreen, put on their swim suits and go and enjoy our children's enjoyment and enthusiasm for getting soaking wet....and we take about a million pictures too!

While I was there, I was informed by the playground teacher at B's school, that Bryna's class was fairly competitive; but that Bryna was always the cheerleader. She cheers her classmates on....win or lose! Bryna is not in the least bit competitive, so she cheers instead!....You may think this is positive or negative....that's your opinion. My opinion is that it's very positive! The reason she's not competitive isn't because she doesn't try or doesn't care, but it's because she truly plays, competes, whatever you want to call it for the PURE FUN OF THE GAME! She delights in the experience....and if she happens to win....fabulous....if she loses, OH WELL....she had a great time playing. I have always been aware of the "non competitive" trait in Bryna, and honestly I never thought much about it; because I too am not a competitive person. That's just how we roll. Then Friday at "FUN IN THE SUN" day, her teacher....Ms. Peggy....said something along these lines to me....I hope she never loses her GUSTO for life or the pure joy she finds in just the experience. Ms. Peggy recently told me in our parent/teacher conference how Bryna is truly full of joy and embraces everything she does with such a zest for life. I thought about that a lot and although I wasn't surprised by it, and was in fact very happy to hear it, I realized that I really didn't realize how full of GUSTO our little girl is! It makes me so happy to think of Bryna being full of GUSTO, and I wish I could say the same about myself....sure I'm a happy person; but do I embrace everything with a joyful heart....do I do everything with a zest for life? Unfortunately I don't, but I'm hoping having all this GUSTO around our house will rub off on me! Bring on the GUSTO!!

I LOVE YOU MY LITTLE GUSTO GIRL!! Your joyful heart touches the lives of so many including your mama!