EMBRACING THREE SIMPLE WORDS: ‘TAKE A BOW’

By Caryn Sorge

Emma Kate came home from China in 2019 at the age of 4 years old. She spent her entire life until that point in orphanage. I remember discussing “her file” with an international adoption doctor prior to officially saying yes. I had, of course, reviewed it myself and, despite my own education and training, it was still so hard to hear this person tell me every negative and take away any hope of my child talking and meeting milestones given the lack of early intervention the first 4 years of her life.

The doctor went as far to tell me that it was likely unwise to adopt this child since I was a single mother and a physician. My heart sunk. Someone else doubted my ability and deep down inside she voiced my biggest concern, am I doing right by this child? Should I adopt a child with specials need when I am single and have a demanding work life?

Despite this, I fortunately said yes, my very best yes This past weekend we celebrated 4 years together as a family, and I found myself sitting in the room, watching as she re-enacted every scene of “Frozen” and sang into her microphone every word to “Let It Go.” I joined in at the end and, despite my terrible contribution to the duet, she looked at me and told me to “take a bow.”

“Take a bow.” Over the past two to three months, it has become a favorite new phrase for her I will often hear her remind herself to “take a bow” when she is proud of herself for doing something. The first time I heard her say it was after her grand performance in the "Nutcracker." Her ballet class danced as water sprites and at the end of their scene each child ran off stage. Emma Kate was the last in line, and before exiting the stage she stopped and took the biggest bow you have ever seen such a tiny girl take. The crowd erupted in applause despite the proper etiquette of not clapping until the end of the show. And backstage she told me, “mama I take a bow, they clapped for me.” And since then, I have continued to hear her say “take a bow,” often to herself.

Whether it is writing her name, jumping into the pool, counting to 10, or reading one of her short phrase books, she reminds herself to take a bow. Sometimes it is just the phrase, like a mantra of sorts, and sometimes it is followed by a graceful bow.

And as she told me to take a bow, despite my terrible rendition, all the emotions came flooding back of the past four years of what this brave, sassy girl has overcome and the incredible human she has become despite the odds stacked against her. Three simple words, take a bow.

What a perfect example of how we should live our lives Live life like no one is watching and even if they are watching then take a bow and give yourself credit for the awesome things that you do, no matter how small they may seem. I am envious of my beautiful daughter who is able to live life with no reservations and truly celebrate herself for all that she accomplishes on a given day and I hope that she never loses that spirit of self-love. I am thankful for this daily reminder and I hope to follow her lead and remind others to “take a bow.” in their very first picture together, is a physician and single mom. She and Emma Kate, now 8, live in Lexington.