Misprinted Lies (Alice in Chains/Bruno Mars)

Never Say You Can't

Layna and I headed to the backyard with a foam football. Bruno sat in one of the patio chairs, smirking at how serious I was being about the whole thing. I tossed Layna the ball from a few feet away. I didn't even have to force her; she wanted to, probably because of all the football games I watched on Sundays. All of my interests quickly became my interests. After several attempts, she couldn't get the hang of it, even though my throws had been very slow and easy.

"Mommy, I can't do this," she whined in frustration.

I waved her over. "Bring it in, Layna. C'mere."

She approached me with her head down.

"Layna, look at me."

She slowly picked up her head with sad eyes.

"Sweetheart, you can do anything."

"But Mommy I can't do it."

"Layna I thought you wanted to learn how to throw."

"I do, Mommy, but it's so hard."

"I know it is, Layna, but listen to me for a second. Everything is hard at first, even for Mommy and Daddy. We worked really, really hard and that's why we got good at playing music. Whatever you want to be when you grow up, you need to work really, really hard. Just because something is hard, doesn't mean you can't do it."

Dad's message was flowing out of me. They were words I had been living by for the past twenty years.

"Layna, people might tell you that you can't do something. You might even think that you can't do it, but honey when you want something you need to work really hard and then you can be whatever you want."

Layna smiled brightly spinning around in circles with her hands in the air. "I wanna be a movie star!"

She looked at Bruno for a second and he winked back. She sighed.

"I wanna try again. I need some water first."

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Layna ran back inside to get her water bottle. I got up and stood close to Lily. I wrapped her in my arms. "Best Mommy ever."

Eventually Layna got the hang of it. Later on that day, Lily started cooking dinner as I helped Layna with her homework. She was really, really smart. We entered her into school a little early because she was ready, and quite the social butterfly.

"Daddy this is so hard," Layna complained. "I can't do this."

"You can do it," I said, rubbing her back. "Never say you can't do something. I can help you."

A few minutes later, I looked at the math worksheet she was doing and just stared.

"Lil, c'mere for a second," I called from the dining room table.

"Bruno," she smirked. "It's Kindergarten. I was hoping her homework wouldn't confuse you until at least second grade."

I smiled and turned up the sarcasm dial. "I know the answer I just don't understand the worksheet. I don't understand what the counters are for."

Lily moved the pots off the burner and walked over and stared for a second.

"Okay," Lily said pointing to a question.

I got absolutely lost in her.

"Layna you see this number?"

"Yes Mommy. It's sixteen."

"Perfect. There are ten spaces on this sheet..."

Layna put ten counters on the first sheet, filling them all up.

"How many do you put on the second sheet then?"

Layna thought for a while. "Six."

"So then how many is it all together? Without counting them all. Ten plus six is..."

"Sixteen! Oh! I can do this!"

"You're so smart."

Layna smiled brightly and gave Lily a high-five and a kiss. I zoned out, getting lost in Lily and Layna once again. A few minutes later I snapped out of it.

"Now," Lily said. "I'm going to finish cooking dinner. Layna, show Daddy how to do thirteen because I don't think he was paying attention."

I laughed a little as Lily kissed my forehead and went back to kitchen area. Layna finished her homework and we all ate dinner. Layna put her dish near the sink and ran to the back door. Lily and I followed her as Geronimo slowly trailed behind us. He was started to slow down a bit.

"I wanna play hide and seek."

Layna wanted both of us to seek her. We counted loudly, our voices echoing far and wide across the backyard.

"Hey no cheating!" 

"We're not, Layna," Lily laughed.

When we finished counting, I immediately saw her in a bush. It didn't help her that she was wearing bright pink. I pointed to her and Lily smiled. We approached both sides of the bush and she immediately started to giggle. Lily grabbed her from behind the bush and laid her in the grass, kissing her face a thousand times.

"Hey," I said, "Let me in there."

I kissed Layna over and over too. Her giggling warmed my heart so much as her little fingers wrapped around my arms.

"Stop!" she squealed.

"Never!" I said.

Then, Geronimo came over and started licking her face. I couldn't wait to tour with my favorite girls. I couldn't wait to show Layna the world.