So the next day when I have a few minutes I ask her to elaborate and she relates the following story –
While out getting ice cream with friends, a woman came in and started screaming at the server. Her friends opted to leave but Heidi chose to stay behind, “because that lady was being horrible and I wanted someone to be there in case it got bad.” So the woman turns on Heidi and drags her into the conflict. Heidi responds by saying that the woman has no reason to be yelling, that it isn’t necessary and she should be treating the server better. The woman storms out of the shop, cussing Heidi out. Heidi then went and got her friends and they returned to the shop. They gave the server another tip and apologized for the woman’s rude behavior, then wished the server a better day and left.
Heidi said, “I was so shaken but my first thought was that you would be proud I stood up for the server and stayed calm …. And thought you would be proud cause I remembered that little things make the difference.”
I told her that I loved her and was incredibly proud of her, and I am. What I didn’t tell her was that reading her words brought me to tears. That in a moment I was hurtled through time, back to the very first time we met, when I was so worried what this precocious three-year old in pigtails was going to think of me. That being a mother is hard, but being a stepmother is a vocation – a willing investment of heart and soul that forges a bond where there was none.
She stood up for someone not because she had to, but because it was the right thing to do. It took courage and faith in herself that she was doing what was right – not what was easy.
I love her and am so proud of her; she is a daughter of my heart no matter the biology. I am in awe of the woman that she is becoming and if she attributes any of it to me then I can think of no greater honor.
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