The same Creator Who gave each one her challenges and gifts also considered who her siblings will be.

S

he stomps into the house and drops her briefcase by the door relieved to be free of its burden. Her jaw is tense and her pretty face clouded by her too-long school day.

I’m afraid to ask how her day was. I know how her day was. It was just like yesterday and the day before. Her younger sister follows her into the house tripping over the briefcase as she rushes toward me in excitement. “We had so much fun today during math!” she says. Her eyes sparkle as she tells me about a game the class played and how she helped secure her team’s win.

“Oh and I got my history test back!” she announces. She pulls out her folder and waves the test paper in my face. “Look! I got 100!”

Even before she shows me the test paper I know her score. It’s the same as she got yesterday in grammar and the day before in science.

My two daughters are two worlds. One is the quintessential artist: She pirouettes around the house forms miniature creations out of modeling clay paints beautiful sceneries on large canvases… but struggles to keep her school things organized and survive in the classroom.

The second is a diligent student who hesitates to take a day off when she’s sick studies anxiously for hours even after she’s mastered all the material and consistently scores 100 percent or higher in every subject.

And me? I’m the mother in the middle orbiting between these contrasting worlds trying to figure out how to give each child what she needs while being sensitive to the other’s needs.

In my older daughter’s bedroom beneath discarded clothing and crumpled test papers one can find ballet shoes and art supplies colored clays and an array of canvases. The bookshelf is cluttered with books on beading creating balloon animals and drawing portraits.

In her younger sibling’s bedroom where the bed is neatly made and the floor completely clear a keyboard stands perfectly in place in one corner. A neatly labeled box in the closet holds songbooks instructional music books and notebooks with songs she’s learned to play.