Piper Learns About Courage

How Piper, the petite [inaudible] princess learned about courage by Marcio Polis. Once upon a time, not terribly long ago in a land not very far away, there lived a little girl called Piper. When she was a baby, she was sick and the doctors had to do an operation to fix her tummy. As she grew older, she had a difficult time doing what other children could do. She wasn't very strong or fast. One summer she went to stay with her aunt Kate, who taught Peloton at the start of the summer.

Piper didn't know what [inaudible] was at. Kate explained it as a sort of exercise that made you stronger and helped you learn how your body worked. She said it let you do everything better at cake. Top Piper plots every day for three months. By the end of the summer, tiny piper was as strong as any kid she knew and she had earned the nickname piper, the petite [inaudible] princess that fall when Piper returned home with her parents and her older brothers and sisters, things felt different. Since Piper was stronger, she could now do everything the other kids could do.

She swam and ran and jumped higher than she ever imagined possible. She was still petite piper, the tiniest girl her age, but now her size didn't really matter and because she was so strong and powerful, her brothers and sisters weren't quite so protective. They began to trust Piper to take care of herself without their help. Yeah. At first they hovered a little when Piper wanted to try something she wasn't able to do before she became the petite pull out his princess, but then they noticed that Piper didn't seem as afraid to try new things as she once was. Piper had learned to take a deep breath into her belly and let it all out before she tried something new.

She knew it was a [inaudible] breath she was taking and that if she stopped to remember to breathe, she was able to focus and be very calm. Piper's mom told everyone that this was the new confident Piper and that she was very proud of her petite [inaudible] princess, and so it went. Piper kept getting stronger and kept feeling better about herself. Twice a week. Her uncle will would collect it from school to take her to aunt Kate studio to practice and spend time doing piles with aunt Kate and Tracy and the adults she met over the summer at school. Piper found herself raising her hand more to answer questions.

Paper wasn't nervous. She wouldn't be able to keep up with other kids anymore and so she no longer tried to make herself a little invisible in order to not be included in a game. She started looking people right in the eye and using our strongest inside voice. When she spoke, Piper's teachers noticed a difference. Mrs Q would say, well, Yippee, I don't need to bend over to listen to Piper anymore. She might be petite, but now she has some power when she speaks and her voice gets all the way up here to my years, Piper loved Mrs Q. She was very, very tall and had short hair that was so curly.

It bounced and jiggled on top of her head every time she moved in. Sometimes even when she didn't, she had a way of making everything seem like a great big fun adventure and there was no question she wasn't willing to answer. Piper was asking a lot more questions since she'd become the petite [inaudible] princess, partly because she felt good inside all the time, but also because of some of the things at Kate totter each week at the Palati studio, after aunt Kate taught something or explained what came next, she would ask, does that make sense? Then she would wait for an answer if none of the students spoke up. Aunt Kate would crinkle her nose, put her hand on her hip and say, why?

Yes, Kate, that makes perfect sense. Thanks for explaining it so beautifully. This was her way of reminding you to let her know you understood, so she didn't need to find a new way to tell you. Tracy said it was sarcasm. Piper didn't really get what sarcasm was, but it made her laugh and relax when she was thinking too hard about something new and forgot to answer. Aunt Kate Piper. If you don't know what something means or why I'm asking you to do it, you must ask questions. The only way to learn is to ask and if my answer doesn't seem right, ask me to explain it another way until it does set at Kate.

It's okay to question things. Sometimes we figure out a better way to do something because somebody asks the right questions. Piper loved that. Aunt Kate always seem to want to know what she was thinking and sometimes she would get very excited about a question, piper hat and would squeal, Ooh, that gives me an idea. Attach a plan. Then she would rub her hands together and whisper with Piper about our new Pele's exercise, a special dessert or a game they could play. Piper love to hatch a plan and laugh when the adult students groaned.

Piper, was this your idea at the [inaudible] studio? The students used all kinds of crazy machines that aunt Kate called apparatus. There was a chair with a pedal attached to what looked like bed springs along wooden thing called the reformer and an enormous table with all kinds of stuff hanging above it and to the sides. Tracy called that one the trapeze table, but aunt Kate referred to it as the Cadillac Piper thought this was funny because it didn't look like any car she'd ever written in. There are also great big balls and tiny little balls and rings that looked like Hula hoops for dolls. Sometimes Piper would watch is Tracy or aunt Kate worked with just one student.

There were ballerinas and baseball players, teenagers and old people and everything in between at the studio. They were all friendly and all seemed happy to be there. Even the ones who pretended they weren't but was one lady Piper looked forward to seeing the most. Her name was Cecilia. Cecilia was a little older than Piper's aunts and uncles, but younger than her grandparents. She wasn't like anyone piper ever met before. She told Piper she was from a place very far away and she'd come here for her job at Cate. Never spoke to piper like she was a little kid, but Cecelia didn't even seem to notice piper wasn't a grownup.

She treated everyone like they were very important, no matter their size or age or job. This was Piper's favorite thing about Cecelia. Well, that end her crazy outfits. Cecilia always arrived and left the studio in what she called her street clothes, but they weren't like any clothes piper ever saw on the street. She told Piper her job was finding clothes for people in the movies and on TV, and she loved her job so much she couldn't help but take it home with her. Piper always tried to picture Cecilia taking the inside of a movie home with her and thought she must have a really big house.

Cecilia switched back and forth between taking lessons from aunt Kate and Tracy, but she always asked Piper if she would stay nearby during her lessons. She said Piper gave her the courage to try new things because of the petite [inaudible] princess could be brave and strong. She could too. Cecilia had an accident several months before she started coming to the plotty studio and there were some things she was just getting strong enough to do again. Each time Tracy introduced something new to Cecilia, she would look over at Piper to see what she thought. Piper like to help encourage the Celia and always gave her a head nod and the thumbs up sign one afternoon. Cecilia didn't seem to want to try the exercise. Tracy asked her to do.

Tracy allowed her to skip it, but each lesson she would encourage the Celia to give it a try. Finally, one day Tracy said, a Celia, I know you don't trust your body to do this yet, but I am here to help you and sometimes you just have to put your big girl panties on and try. Piper started to laugh at the thought of Cecilia putting great big panties on over her, his pants, Tracey and Cecilia stop staring at each other and burst into laughter too. Then Tracy said, Cecilia, you're one of the bravest people I know. How did you have the courage to leave your home and friends and family and moved so far away? Cecilia took a deep breath and said, well, I was given a chance to have this new adventure, so I decided to trust that everything would be okay in a new place and that I'd make new friends and have a family here too. She smiled and said, you know, leap and the net will appear and doll. Tracy put her hand on Cecilia's shoulder and said, and look how that worked out.

Cecelia looked like she smelled something funny and said, well, you're right Tracy. I am very brave and strong on the inside. Let's see if I can get my outside of match piper. She said, putting on my big girl Panties, love standby with extra courage after lesson. Piper couldn't believe how many times she watched Cecilia be brave and try things she couldn't do before. It made Piper think when she first started polarez she was too tiny and not nearly strong enough to use any of the special apparatus in the studio. But after the summer was over, aunt Kate would occasionally suggest that Piper might be ready to try some exercises on the Cadillac. Piper would have no part of it, but as the weeks went by, she started to think she could at least try.

One day, Piper took a deep breath, hiked up her courage and told aunt Kate she was ready to try the apparatus at Kate, kept piper safe and did some of the same exercises they practice on the floor. But this time holding onto some of the crazy handles that were attached to the Cadillac Piper couldn't believe how much harder the exercise was. But she also realized she was strong enough to do it and was no longer afraid. Aunt Kate and Tracy told her that it took great courage to try something new and to trust yourself to know what was right or wrong for you. Piper and Cecelia were both getting to be very good at each of those things and each time piper got nervous or afraid. She still took a great big Pele's breath, but now she also reminded herself to put on her big girl panties.

Piper was pretty busy with her new activities and a few nights a week she would have dinner with aunt Kate and uncle will instead of at home with her family. So she didn't notice right away that our big brother Ben seemed different. At first, Piper wasn't sure what had changed, but watching at Kate and Tracy teach [inaudible] and listening to what they said every day was teaching piper to notice new things. She now seemed to be the first to recognize when her mom got her haircut. She saw right away that Mrs Q was limping a tiny bit at school one day and learned her foot hurt from her new running shoes and she was the only one to figure out what was different with her dad. When he got new glasses, everyone commented on what Mrs Q called Piper's new super power of observation.

Piper pictured herself and her Pilati his clothes with a Cape and a big O for observation on her chest. Ben was about the best big brother you could ever hope to have. He was strong and kind and he never had a mean word to say. He always made Piper feel special and like she was his favorite person in the world, but really he made everyone feel that way. Aunt Kate like to say that Ben was one of those people who just walked into a room and made you feel like the sun was shining a little brighter.

Piper thought that must be why she felt warm inside each time he was near. Ben Wasn't just nice. He was also the best at every single sport he tried. He was always captain of every team and as he got older, coaches from teams all over the land asked him to come play for them. He played baseball and basketball and tennis better than any kid she knew, but he was the best at soccer. Piper watched and listened and listened and watched to try to figure out what was different about Ben. Pretty soon.

She knew that something wasn't just different. Something was wrong. Ben Just didn't seem like himself. He was sort of quiet at dinner and wasn't smiling as much. Piper decided to find out what was going on. She snuck from her room after bedtime and crept down the hall to bends through the crack in the door. She saw him sitting at his desk working on a project.

She pushed the door open a little more and squeezed in quiet as a mouse. Then pushed the door almost closed again. She walked up to his side and saw Ben was coloring. He didn't even seem to notice she was there, so she cleared her throat the way her dad sometimes did when he wanted to get your attention. Ben jumped at the noise, then laughed and said, pipe, what are you doing up? You scared the snot out of me.

Ben Picked Piper up and sat her across from him on the edge of his bed. Piper took a deep breath and let it out. Then she said, I came to find out what's wrong because you seem sort of sad and not at all like you. Ben's mouth fell open. How did you know that pipe at Kate and Tracy, you're teaching me to notice things now. I want to know what's wrong unless it's teenage stuff. Then I don't think I want to know and you can bring me back to bed.

Ben Laughed and tugged at her hair. Then he took the coloring book off the desk and showed it to her. She looked through the pages and saw that about half of them were colored in. Ben, I like your new coloring book, but aren't you a little old for coloring them through his head back laughing again, pipe. It's not a coloring book. I drew those pictures and wrote the story that goes with it.

Piper's eyes opened really wide as she said. Holy cow, Ben. I didn't know you could do that. Ben Shook his head up and down and said, Yep, pipe drawing and making up stories is actually my favorite thing to do in the world, but I haven't told anyone because I'm supposed to be this big Tufts sports guy. Ben, I thought you loved soccer more than anything else in the whole wide world, but if you love drawing more, why would you ever give that up? Sometimes you can't do what makes just you happy. Piper. If I stopped playing soccer, I'll let mom and dad and my team and coaches down. I don't want them to be disappointed in me, so you can't tell them, okay, piper jumped off the bed, put her hands on her hips and looked Ben right in the eye. Ben, that is the silliest thing I ever heard.

You just afraid to tell them what you want. And Kate tells me all the time that I have to stand up for myself and if something doesn't feel right, I shouldn't do it. I'm going to bed now, but I want you to think about putting on your big girl panties and telling everyone the truth. When you're afraid, you just need to take a deep breath and let it out. You'll feel better and it helps if somebody holds your hand during the scary parts as she stomped off to bed. She muttered. Geez. When did I become the big kid in this family? Ben laughed again and shouted, I don't know. Pipe. But you're pretty good at being the big kid. I want to know when you became so bossy the next morning over breakfast, Piper kept looking Ben right in the eye and clearing your throat, but she didn't say a word. This went on for an entire week.

Finally, at Dinner One night there, dad asked, so we're all wondering what Ben did to get on your bad side. Piper, you've been giving him the evil eye all week long. The evil eye was something they learned from their Italian grandma. She was a really sweet lady, but boy, could she stop you in your tracks with just one look. Piper stopped doing her. Grandma Josie Imitation Dad. Ben Is an on my bad side.

I'm just waiting for him to put on his big girl panties and do the right thing. Everyone at the table started to laugh. Tucker and Jackson each laughed so hard. Milk came out of their noses. Lil and VI's shoulders shook really hard, but no noise came out and their mom was wiping tears of laughter from her eyes. Ben left the room for a minute and when he came back he had his book of drawings in his hand. Piper got up from her chair and stood next to him.

They clasped hands and she squeezed Benz as hard as she could. Then she whispered, big breath and big girl panties. Ben took in a breath and let it out and then about three more and then told everyone about his drawings and stories and how he didn't really love playing soccer, but he knew everyone expected him to play and he just didn't think he could pretend he loved it anymore. His voice sounded funny as he spoke and when he finished he looked more than a little scared, but like it was lots easier to breathe. The entire room was silent.

The other kids sort of had their mouths hanging open and they didn't seem to know where to look. Ben, their mom said in her softest mom voice, why didn't you just tell us you didn't want to play? I wanted to mom but I was afraid you'd be disappointed in me. Ben explained. Then Piper had a talk with me and I've been working up the courage to tell you but I guess I didn't go fast enough for pipe. Are You mad at me?

Their dad cleared his throat a few times and blinked his eyes really fast. Ben, your mother and I don't care if you play or not, we just want you to do what makes you happy and to find something you really love. Their mom started talking the second their dad stopped. We are so proud of all of you and we love that. No two of your exactly alike. All we want is for you each to be yourself and if you are Ben the artist instead of Ben the athlete, we are absolutely fine with that. As long as you're happy. That night, Ben was the one to read piper a story before bed.

When he finished he said, hey, thanks for today pipe. Just so you know, if you ever need me to hold your hand and help you find your courage, all you have to do is ask. Well, I already knew that Ben Piper was feeling bigger and stronger than ever before, but there is something you can do for me. I want your next story to be about me. And that is the story of how Piper the petite [inaudible] princess learned about courage and our brother Ben began writing stories about her and they all lived happily and bravely ever after.