Be Optimistic

Our Little One was born with Her arms stretched wide, greeting the world at the top of Her lungs.

I know, now, that She was singing.  

She's rarely stopped since.  A chance whim of mine to let Her watch Mary Martin's Peter Pan  during one of Her fevers, at two, hooked Her deeply and forever on musicals and broadway show tunes.  This genre, never present in our home before Little One, has become a permanent Pandora station, and in a way serves as background music for much of our last few years.  

Some time ago, I accompanied the Little's lunch (soup) with a song I recalled from childhood (concerning monkeys and rabbits that loop the loop), and the giggles it produced compelled me to play the original version for them on YouTube.  

There was Shirley Temple, tapping her toes, bouncing her curls, and singing away to adulation.  Little Miss loved it.  She couldn't get enough.  As for Little One?  She seemed to see in Shirley a soul cut of the same cloth.  They both fell in love.

Who hasn't?  I remember watching those curls bounce and trying to tap along when I was little.  I remember my mother humming along, surely transported to her own childhood dreams of the good ship lollipop.  And one of my dearest memories is of sitting in the guest room with my grandmother, as she reverently brought out the Shirley Temple paper dolls she had played with as a child- and saved all those years, they were that precious.  We played with them for hours; Shirley Temple could close the gap of two generations so simply.  

She's hemmed in another generation in this family now, too, encompassing my children.  We keep a lookout for Shirley in the movie section of the library, and even though there are no animations, no special effects, sometimes not even color, they easily compete with the flashiest modern productions for a place in my Little's interest.  

Most recently, we watched (and re-watched, and again) Little Miss Broadway, and a part of that movie twirled out of the screen and affixed itself to our daily lives like a sequin on one of Miss Shirley's flouncy dresses.  

It began with Little Miss.  You are familiar with Missy?  Of the world-infamous frowny face?  There was one episode in which this face which was particularly stubborn and I could not seem to remove it, no matter what solvent I tried.  Then Little One swept in- Her own curls bouncing- regaling Missy with their favorite song from Little Miss Broadway.  

"Be optimistic!" Little One crooned at Her sister, "Don't you be a grumpy! When the road gets bumpy, just smile!"

Like a magic spell, Missy broke out in laughter.  It has been our lucky charm ever since.  Whenever one of us begins to pout or get cranky, someone pipes up with the little song and, if you can believe it, we just about always end up all smiles, the lot of us.  It's a silly, old fashioned song.  Which is just the point.  You can't hear it or sing it without laughing.  Try it!  

I'm not much for the worship of celebrity.  I mean, I don't know these people, and I find it odd to be transfixed by someone I've never met.  So I can't say that I'm personally affected by the death of Shirley Temple Black, as a person.  But I can say I feel a gratitude for the uncommon manner in which she managed to serve as a positive role model her entire life.  And I do have a tenderness in my heart for the idea of Shirley Temple- the idea of generations of people cherishing innocence and simple fun despite themselves. 

So, to commemorate this legacy and honor the ray of sunshine her childhood curls have reflected into my own family's life, here is our Little tribute.