Outside The Box

I wish I could gain insight into the workings of Makell's mind. It would solve oh so many problems if I could just grasp how and why she thinks the way she does. She is an 'out of the box' thinker. I'm in the box. WAY in the box. Makell looks at life from a different perspective. Exhibit A:

Who knew that you could lower your music stand to the ground and then sit on the floor to play your violin. Her teacher would have a coronary if she knew. Maybe when Makell grows up she can join an orchestra and convince all of them to sit on the ground as well. She'll ask the audience to stand instead.

Another one of her latest 'out-of-the-box' endeavors is writing backwards. Not the words themselves, but just the letters. Instead of writing each letter the way we are all taught--starting at the top of the letter, she is now doing the opposite. She will start at the bottom of each letter. The end results look the same, but the process is different. I have been watching her write over the last week--she starts at the end of a lowercase 'e' or the bottom of and 'h' or 't' and then forms/writes the letter in a backwards motion.

For a majority of Makell's life, I have looked at what she does and thought, ".....I wonder why?" Why does she write backwards, why does she slather her body with vaseline, why does she put a stool on top of the stove and stand on it, why does she throw everything in her room out the window, why does she cut her pants with scissors at school? Occasionally I'll ask her "why....?" She just shrugs her shoulders and responds, "because I want to."

It can be exasperrating raising an out-of-the-box child. I reprimand her far more than I should, mostly out of sheer frustration. But yet, there are times when I look at this girl and realize that one of the purposes of her life is to teach me to broaden my view from inside my rigid box. Sometimes as I am asking her, "why are you doing that!?", I am also wondering, "well, why not?" She has made me stretch the boundaries of my box. Her free-spirit nature is fascinating. While I wish I could find a way to manage that spirit, at the same time I find such delight in watching Makell be.....Makell. Maybe writing backwards is the forward way of thinking. Maybe sitting on the floor to practice is way better than standing. And maybe, just maybe, having an out-of-the box child is a priceless gift from heaven.