the strongest girl in the world

Let me start with an aside. I’m listening to old Joan Armatrading, specifically, this very moment, the song “Heaven”: “I want to be the sunshine when you’re down… I want to be the one you run to… Came into my life, made me think that I was really something…” Yadda Yadda. I’m melting. I’m crying. I really can’t listen to anything except maybe Sousa marches right now without feeling like a big old romantic abscess. Hold me. Touch me. Love me. Jesus, I might as well just start listening to Lionel Ritchie 24/7, with a little Bread thrown in when I really want to cry. (Bread – remember them?)

But what I’m sitting here thinking about –the part of my brain that is consumed by something other than the fantasy of a tall man showing up on my doorstep–is Bea’s Halloween costume. She wants to be Pippi Longstocking. I think this is a swell idea. Talk about a maverick! Pippi is the real deal. The strongest girl in the world, no less. It’s just the kind of moxie Bea needs right now.