Wishing It All True...

Zoey meeting her little sister, Maggie Aoi, in Mummy's lap - August 18, 2012

Meet Maggie Aoi DeWagner...slayer of small dragons, and big monsters. She runs a lot, but maybe reads more. She never wants to leave home until she finally does, and then she does it right, and with confidence and assuredness. She's supposed to do great things because the sky said so on the day she was born. Her teachers all like her. Some adore her. She tries hard, and likes the feeling of security that comes with success. Field Day is her favorite because there's not enough room on her chest for her ribbons or her pride. She loves her sister, and thinks that she can do anything...and because her sister can do anything so can she.

She's the best at hide'n seek, and tag too...better than the boys even, but that's okay because they all have a crush on her, and because she's so nice that no one really ever notices until the game is over and she's won. She makes friends easily, and never needs scolding...well, not often. She watches people, and she pays attention. She's always paying attention.

Her swim coach says that she's a natural, but she's just as interested in the trip to McDonalds afterward than she is the medal. That might be why she wins all the medals. School is easy, but she still works hard. Her cousin Avery is one of her favorites, and she pretends to get upset but she likes how Reece teases her.

Boyfriends...who has time for boyfriends? She could get a dozen, but what's the point? She's not all that interested, not yet. What do boys have to do with school and lap times? There are a few she likes, and even fewer that make her feel all squishy, but they're just boys, and not at all ready to treat her the way that she wants to be treated so she'll just be picky, and take her time. What's the rush? She's seen better boys in Ann Arbor when she goes to the games, and who wants to date an idiot when there's a smart guy who just fell out of a magazine who just hasn't met the right girl yet?

Her sisters friends treat her nice. They're her friends too. mostly because her sister is so cool, but also because she is. Between the two of them they work hard at making their parents prouder every day...it's a bit of a contest, but a friendly one...the kind where everyone wins.

Supper time is her favorite, when everyone is together...no, supper time on vacation, that's her favorite. Then everyone is together and the air is full of excitement and strange smells and that amazing, weird feeling that only vacation brings. Her family takes the best vacations. Her friends come along, and so do Zed's and before you know there are five or six or seven girls, including Mom, 'cause she turns into a little bit of one when we're on vacation, and Dad. He loves it.

She tells the truth...always, even when it hurts people. She hates to hurt people. She wants to be a doctor. She doesn't know if she wants to do all that schooling, all that long, but she wants to...you know, at least she thinks she does. She'll figure it out.

She likes going to the games with her Dad, just like her sister did. She likes the way that her Dad get s excited and the way the isn't just sports when he watches...it's people, and stories, and the colors and sounds and even the events are all different because Dad sees them differently. She realizes after awhile that it's what makes her play. She feels proud when she looks up and sees her parents. She's a good sport, and works hard, even when it doesn't look like it. She's neat, and her room is always clean...like crazy clean. When she was little she freaked when Zoey would make a mess in there, and Zoey would laugh because there isn't anything much funnier than making Maggie freak. She's not very good at "freaking" and can never stay mad long. She's the best kind of sister because she forget things easily.

She meets the right boy, not right away, but easily, and she never once has a boy problem, not once. Her sister does, but she doesn't. Maybe it's because she is watching.

She build forts, roasts marshmallows, she loves to camp, and play in the woods, and on mountains, and in oceans, and she saves all of her money to do those things. When she leaves for Europe the first time, with just her friends, she knows it's a big deal to her parents, and so she lingers and listens to their stories and she calls when she arrives, and tells them everything when she returns, and she never, ever, not in a million years ever loses her passport, money, and all of her identification because she fell asleep on a bus. Her Dad taught her that.

She believes in people, in kindness, and in helping, and she has faith and hope, and trust in, well, everything. She wants to make a difference...to "save the world," as some people say sarcastically, but why wouldn't she want to do that? Who doesn't want to do that? It doesn't take much she believes, and she knows that she's right.

She sleeps, and she dotes on her father, and she likes to watch her parents together because they're cute, and she knows that's the way it's supposed to be.

Maggie Aoi is a good girl, and although she wishes she could be more like her sister, her sister wishes the same, and two parents couldn't be any more proud of any two girls ever.