Love at First Sight

Do you believe in love at first sight? Do you believe that you can care so much about a person before you even know their name? Do you believe that one person can change your life in an instant? Well, I do. It happened on Wednesday, September 18, 2013. I was standing in the activity room at the South Franklin Community Center, and she walked in the room—the most beautiful little girl I have ever seen. I fell in love with her dimples and her Hello Kitty backpack right then and there. Her name was Daniela.  

Daniela and I went into the other room where other kids and their tutors sat working. She pulled out her math worksheet, full of problems converting fractions to decimals. Daniela’s pencil flew across the page, as she completed her problems confidently. She did not need my help, so I observed, praising her with each correct answer.

After that, we moved onto spelling. Daniela had taken a spelling test previously, and it was my job to help her learn the words she had missed.  I would tell her the word, and she would write it out on a whiteboard. Every time she would look expectantly up at me, waiting to learn if she had spelled the word correctly. When she did, her eyes would sparkle as I cheered her on or gave her a high five. For the harder words, we came up with little clues and ways to remember. By the end of the session, she could spell all of the twenty words on her list. I do not know who was more proud—her or me.

Our final assignment was to read for thirty minutes. We wanted to go somewhere quieter, so we sat outside, soaking up the Utah sun. Her novel told the tale of a group of dogs who tried to come up with ways to steal hotdogs. Each time she came across the words “frankfurters,” she pronounced it as “frankenfurters.” I wanted to correct her, but her pronunciation was too cute to try to change. She and I both would giggle at the silly antics of the dogs. Her face lit up when we came across one of her spelling words in the text. 

When it was time to go, my heart dropped. I could have spent all day with Daniela. I could tell she felt disappointed too. I promised to return the next week and have been anticipating it since then. I hope Daniela will be there. I hope I can stare into those chocolate eyes and hear her quiet laugh. I hope I can shower her with the love that is overflowing in my heart. If not, I hope she knows how special she is. I hope that the few hours spent together made an impact on her. They truly did on me. I will cherish the experience that I had to interact with such a beautiful daughter of God. I will not forget “frankenfurters” or Hello Kitty. I will always remember September 18, 2013—the day I fell in love.