talk time<\/a><\/em> so we would have this time to ourselves with no interruptions.<\/p>\nI started by telling her that I had written her a note and wanted to read it to her. She smiled and quickly sat up as if she didn\u2019t want to miss anything.<\/p>\n
I began by reading all the things I love about her.<\/p>\n
Her face immediately shined. The way she smiled reminded me of when she holds my neighbor\u2019s excessively cuddly cat.\u00a0 In her eyes, I saw tenderness and love; I saw growing self-confidence and pride; I saw happiness that only true connection with another living being can bring.<\/p>\n
When I got to the apology section, she immediately dropped her head. Her hair hung forward, and I could not see her face. Although apologies are often uncomfortable for the giver, it appeared that being on the receiving end was difficult for her. That made me realize that I don\u2019t apologize often enough.\u00a0 I continued reading although it was difficult for both of us.<\/p>\n
When I came to the conclusion of my note, her head popped back up and her beautiful smile resumed in full force.<\/p>\n
I waited to see how she would respond. I could tell she was thinking. But instead of saying any words, she simply leaned over and hugged me.<\/p>\n
For some reason, when I wrapped my arms around her, they felt lighter.\u00a0 A weight that I hadn\u2019t realized was there had been lifted.<\/p>\n
And then without missing a beat, she began our nightly talk time<\/em> discussion.<\/p>\nAnd since \u201ceasy and light\u201d has never been the theme of talk time<\/em> for this child, she began with: \u201cHow long do you think MeMe and PawPaw will live?\u201d<\/p>\nWhew, talk about going straight to the heart.<\/p>\n
We then snuggled in while I quickly prayed God would guide me in answering my daughter\u2019s questions, questions that I ponder with great difficulty and emotion myself.<\/p>\n
Our talk time began and covered much territory in ten minutes, but this time there was a renewed connection, a solid foundation that had not been there the night before.<\/p>\n
Tonight not only did she know I loved her, but she knew every single reason why.<\/p>\n
And that, my friends, makes for an incredibly soft place to lay your head.<\/p>\n
When is the last time you told your child or loved one what you love about him or her? Grab a piece of paper. Make a list; it doesn\u2019t have to be fancy. Just say what\u2019s in your heart today. Tomorrow has no guarantees.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Approximately one year ago, my husband\u2019s company honored him for outstanding job performance, and we were awarded a trip. For the first time ever, we would be separated from our daughters for eight days. There was packing to do and instruction lists to make for my mother-in-law who was going to care for the girls […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":884,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"gutentor_comment":7,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/DSC_00221-e1298419616232.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1fUJF-ed","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}