Piper is my dharma. She doesn’t mean to be. She just is.

Maybe I was a little grumpy. Maybe I was a little impatient. Surely not.

Either way, Piper was supposed to be playing by herself. Piper hates playing by herself. She wants to be attached to a member of our family every minute of the day, even in sleep. She’s an extrovert living with three workaholic introverts. Piper is the one that makes us see the light of day. And she makes us laugh about it, too.

After her thirty minutes of “alone time” Sunday afternoon, Piper bounced into my office and slipped this in my palm.

“I made it for you,” she said. “It’s a pin. You can wear it.”

“Thanks, sweetie,” I said, hugging the Piper.

“You can be happy, too. If you want to, Mommy.”