Friday, April 17, 2009

This Is the Reason We Suffer Through Childbirth

The Princess has been having a whale of a time the last couple of days. Her dearest friend, who moved to Paris last year, has been back during Easter break and the two of them have been inseparable. The explosion of Barbies, pink glitter ponies and baby doll stuff in the kids' room brings joy to my heart. The two of them seem to be capable of playing so intensely with each other that even the flying matchbox cars coming from Bubba-Love don't effect them.

These two are so happy to be together, nothing else matters. They spent all day yesterday laughing and giggling and when it was time for the friend to leave, The Princess didn't hesitate a nano-second before agreeing to head off with her for the night.

I have to admit, even though this wasn't the first time she's gone to a friend's for the night, as I sat at the table for dinner with "my men," I missed my girl. I know at this late stage of my pregnancy, I'm having the urge to keep all my people together, around me. But it was more than just that. There seemed to be a little bit of sunshine missing at our table. We were incomplete without her.

About 9:30pm, the phone rang. Turns out, The Princess had been crying since dinner. Would it be all-right if she came home? As if I would have said no.

Fifteen minutes later, her friend's mom pulled up in front of the house and out came my girl, face red from tears, eyes wide and searching. I opened the gate and we grabbed each other.

"I just wanted to come home, " she said.

I hugged her some more, took her inside and made her a Nutella sandwich. We sat quietly, she in my lap, as I stroked her hair and rubbed her back until she had finished. We headed upstairs, stopping in for huge hug from daddy before I tucked her into her bed with her dolls and blankie. I think she was asleep before I even left the room.

There is a quote from Erich Fromm that I love:

Mother's love is peace. It need not be acquired, it need not be deserved.”

It fills me to think that our Princess knows this already.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Karen - I love this post. I got teary. Ana told me the other night that she wanted to live with me forever. I thought I would burst with joy. Little girls are precious. Ellen

Sue said...

Even though my baby is 18 and about to leave home for the wide world of college, she still needs her mom hugs on a daily basis.