Supergirl

Mairen The Great! 

My mother once mentioned a piece of dialogue in a book. A man compared a woman to a flower bud; she possessed untapped potential and talent and it was just moments till this potential blossomed and revealed itself.
Watching my niece at the recent Kite Festival, I realized she, too, was a flower bud and I was witnessing her blossom.
Mairen always had great potential. She would tie ends of a pink paisley nylon sleeping bag to make a cape and zoom around the backyard as a superhero; her enormous cape whipping through the air. Indeed, she has a superhero's fearlessness. Heights don't faze her, high speeds are just lovely and there is no new experience that is intimidating.
Still, when I invited her to come along with me to volunteer at the recent Kite Festival and to help take pictures of the event for the Los Alamos Daily Post, I was certain she might find the task at least a little daunting and would need some guidance.
How wrong I was.
Thinking about the experience now, it shouldn't have been a surprise to see how much Mairen completely jumped into the business of volunteering at the festival or roaming the park, snapping photos for the Daily Post but I was amazed by how she exhibited no bashfulness or hesitation to assist youngsters with building kites or ask people for their names for the newspaper.
Not only did Mairen embrace her duties but she executed them well. Every kite she helped construct came out just perfect and Mairen showed a natural eye for action shots. It was as though a young, female version of Clark Kent was walking beside me. Underneath a t-shirt and jean shorts, Mairen could have very well been wearing a superhero's cape and just as a bud bursts open to reveal a flower, it seemed very possible any moment that cape would unfurl and Mairen would soar swiftly and high into the sky.