Last night we were sitting in the restaurant and there was a table of four boys sitting across the aisle from us. They were being a little too loud for comfort.

 

Without missing a beat, Lila turns to them and yells, “Hey! Be quiet!” I quickly tried to quiet Lila down because I didn’t want to cause a scene and young boys are prone to cause one.

 

Then I thought of how much she reminded me of Linzi in that moment and how fearless she was. She didn’t care who it was, how much bigger they were, or their social status, or financial standing. If she found somebody in the wrong, she didn’t hesitate to call them into question.

  

It’s what attracted me to her initially. I admired her willingness to tell me where I was going wrong and what I needed to do to be better. She pushed me to be better. To do more.

 

That same feistiness and fearlessness is already instilled in our little one.

 

I miss that woman something awful in moments such as that.

 

One of her favorite phrases was a line from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, “And though she be but little, she is fierce.”

 

It’s a perfect way to describe my wife. It’s a perfect way to describe our daughter.