Katie Kake!
My “baby,” Catherine Rose Loebel, turned eleven on March 1st.
Katie – aka. Super Kate, Lady Bug, Katie Bug, Warrior Bug, Rose Bug, Bugzz, etc. – is such a special kid. She’s got a powerhouse personality, is easily the most social person in the Loebel Clan, and is probably the one in the family most in tune with her own natural rhythm. She’s got a special energy that always beams out of her, no matter what circumstance she’s in. She’s my little warrior – always ready to lend a hand, step in when someone needs help, and wants to devote herself to something greater than she is. But more than all that, Katie is just …. purely lovable.
Over the past year I have worked more on making our family life more ceremonial. That means that I’ve focused more on creating and establishing traditions and rituals that connect us more as a family, and connect us more with God. Birthdays have become a big part of that focus. What I’ve started doing with each girls’ birthday is find two poems or quotes that seem to fit with where they are in their life at that time. The first poem or quote has to do with their personal development, something about their personality, or a particular struggle they might be having. The second one is an expression of who they are as artists/dancers, since those are so much a part of each of my girls’ identity. I call the first one their “Personality Quote” and the second one their “Artist’s Quote.” I then share the quotes or poems with them, which sparks a conversation we have about their meaning and how they might relate to each girl.
When finding the quote or poem I try not to have anything in particular in mind; I want an element of “inspired randomness” to help in the choosing of it. For Katie’s birthday I went to one of the local bookstores and browsed through the poetry section. A collection of poems by Goethe caught my eye. I pulled the book off the shelf, leafed through it a bit, and then flipped open to a random page. What I found in the last stanza of Goethe’s poem “The Diary” fit perfectly where Katie is at right now:
This life’s a crazy journey, and our heart
May stumble, but two mighty powers, we’ll find,
Can move the world and help us as we go:
To Duty much, to Love far more we owe.
– Goethe, from “The Diary”
That instantly became Katie’s Personality Quote for this birthday.
Part of this tradition also involves taking a picture of each of the girls on their birthday that I then incorporate the quote or poem into. Here’s Katie’s:
When I shared the picture/poem image with Katie I talked to her about what Goethe might have meant by Duty (with a capital “D”) and Love (with a capital “L”). She and I talked about Duty being focused on knowing what is right and true, and keeping our actions in line with that knowledge. Love is the intent behind all of our actions. Nothing in life is done in isolation from others. We are always in relationship, and its our relationships that matter more than anything else, especially our relationship with God.
Some of our past family experiences have been a little rough and tumble, to say the least. Katie has always struggled to find her place in the scheme of things, and still seems to experience some unease about having a secure place in life. That’s why the “crazy journey” part of Goethe’s poem seemed so appropriate. It gave us a chance to talk about the principle that no matter how hard things may get in life sometimes, if we keep our hearts open to the love that God has for us, and keep our actions right and true, then we can have hope that we’ll see it all through.
Katie has an incredibly strong spirit, and that strength comes from her huge heart.
Katie’s Artist’s Quote was something I found through another “random flip” with Rilke’s Letters on Life. Rilke is the official favorite poet of the Loebel Clan. His existential and mystical bent fits us very well. Here’s the quote:
Art is childhood, after all…. Countless possibilities. Countless wishes. And suddenly to be fulfillment, to be summer, to have sun.
– Rainer Maria Rilke, from “Letters on Life”
In sharing that quote with Katie we talked mostly about her art being her dancing, especially her hoop dancing. Katie’s dances are all about power. She is a natural showman, with a ton of energy that beams out of her when she dances. That was part of the inspiration for her regalia being centered around sun symbolism. The quote also fits her because I think she embodies the ideas of “countless possibilities and wishes” when she’s moving with her hoops. Her energy of movement is about the arrival of hope and the power to do great things.
The final part of of this birthday tradition is the making of a tribute video for each girl. I take my favorite pictures of the birthday girl from the past year that show different aspects of who they are and put them into a slide show that uses two of their favorite songs that they like to dance to, and also include the two quotes that I’ve found for them. The whole video then becomes a narrative of their journey over the past year. The pictures I chose for Katie’s video this year have a number of her holding one of her many little cousins. Katie LOVES little kids; she’s a natural caregiver and she defines herself through her relationships to others. Here’s Katie’s tribute video:
And finally, no birthday is complete without a PARTY!! Katie wanted a bowling party, so a bowling party it was. Here’s her Uncle Sam getting the birthday girl set up with her bowling ball and officially kicking off the party:
Uncle Sandman Gets the Bowling Party Officially Started
The day we had Katie’s party also involved the girls dancing at a pow wow in Salt Lake City that night. Mandi and Katie had been asked to dance as part of a Title VII hoop dance exhibition. Here’s Katie bringing her special energy to the event and demonstrating her art:
Building a Ladder to Heaven
I love this kid!
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