#869 I Like You

After watching that Mister Rogers documentary I keep talking about (this one), we got a bunch of his books. One of them is a recently published, beautifully illustrated collection of his poetry-songs called A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.

It’s fantastic and currently occupies the prime real estate in the Johnson house—the center of our kitchen table.

I like to open the book up and read a poem to Emerson. He likes it as much as I do.

Our favorite?

I Like You As You Are.

Fun fact: Not counting the opening Won’t You Be My Neighbor song, this is the very first song Mister Rogers sang in the very first episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood way back on February 19th, 1968.

(btw1: If you’re an Amazon Prime member, you can watch it (along with other episodes from the very first week) for free here.)

(btw2: He sang the song right after he talked about how hard it was for him to tie his shoes when he was a little kid. How’d it get easy? He practiced, practiced, practiced. Growth mindset for the win!)

Do you know the song?

It starts like this:

I like you as you are
Exactly and precisely
I think you turned out nicely
And I like you as you are

And includes:

I like you as you are
I wouldn’t want to change you
Or even rearrange you
Not by far

Emerson loves the poem-song so much he even had his Nama read it to him.

And, throughout the day I might have started saying, “Hey Buddy!! I like you. Just the way you are.”

My heart melts every time I see him listen to me say that as he “hears it.” I can see his big brain processing it intellectually.

Then I can see a little shift in his consciousness the moment he FEELS it.

I get tears in my eyes just typing that.

That’s Today’s +1.

Two things.

1. Know this: I like you. Just the way you are. (Seriously.)
2. Get on this: To whom can you sing that little song? (Seriously!)

I like you
I-L-I-K-E-Y-O-U
I like you, yes I do
I like you, Y-O-U
I like you, like you as you are
🤗🤗🤗