When Aislin has a fall or a run-in with the huge puppies, I say Come Here and I snuggle the hurt out of her. I know I say this because when she got her first dolly I watched her pick it up tenderly, hold it tight and say Come Here in the voice that was me...pause for her mommy to glow...
My acupuncturist fills me with needles, to re-balance the flow, remove the pain, stimulate the brain, warm the center. I love it, lying there, you can actually hear the flow in your head. As she leaves the room, I am to breath out the bad three times and then send loving thoughts to the pain. This day she says to picture my body as a child that just needs some coddling.
I cry, almost immediately. The idea that I should give a little Come Here comfort to myself makes me ball right there on the table. How surprising it is, you think you know yourself and then you realize you haven't a clue. You think you've taught your daughter compassion and you realize you may not yet have that lesson mastered.
Malia was first published at the age of 12, in The Minneapolis StarTribune. She has only a vague memory of the story itself, but clearly remembers her teacher rewarding her with a Hershey's Special Dark block bar. She is now mommy to Aislin and wife to Bryan. She spends her days as an arts marketer and spends her favorite evenings taking baby ballroom classes with Miss AZ. |
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