Ode to Pink

Last night, I went over to the Miller’s house with Sarah to celebrate AnnaMarie’s third birthday with the family, complete with pink rice for our taco pile-up. Now, if you know AnnaMarie, which most likely you don’t, you know she’s one of the most animated three year olds ever, and she loves pink. She has this amazing ability to make me laugh, usually over the dinner table, as she makes faces at me and says things that are out of the blue. I truly adore this child... And she truly adores the color pink.

I brought my iPhone to Africa. It’s served me well throughout my time here, and I really love having it. Well, when I first got here, I let the kids play with it often, and AnnaMarie was no exception. She knows how to make pictures bigger and change the landscape- she’s a three-year-old technological genius who is growing up in Africa. Somehow, it came about that when you would ask her what she wanted for Christmas, it was a “peent iPhone.” Alas, Santa did not deliver on that wish, and she did not end up with a pink iPhone, but she still smiles :)

Because of her and her brother, Asher’s, amazing ability to make me laugh whenever and wherever, I asked them earlier this year, “Someday, when I’m a big businesswoman, and I work in a boring office, will you two come and make me laugh? Anna, you could be my pink bubble of happiness.” Since that time, she will randomly bring up how she’s my pink bubble of happiness. On our drive to Pendjari, she was explaining to me how her Kelly doll was her pink bubble of happiness and she was my pink bubble of happiness, just randomly and completely unprompted. Sometimes when she’s upset about something, I’ll just say, “Now where’s my pink bubble of happiness?” and she’ll struggle to not smile, but you can tell she’s trying to figure out how to be my pink bubble of happiness with a frown on her face.

As I type this, I’m about to leave for Anna’s birthday party, which is sure to be very pink and adorable. I’m sitting in a pink shirt with a pink pagne. I considered wearing my Crocs, but as it’s super super hot, I don’t really feel like constricting my feet to my Crocs. So I’ll wear my Nike flip-flops and eat the pink popcorn I made (oh yes, pink popcorn!).



Happy Birthday, AnnaMarie!