Happy

Natalie has had a rash of tummy aches this year. She gets one on a school day about once every other week. I haven't figured out what it is yet. I'm guessing it might be a day after she eats an especially large amount of fruits and veggies. It's so funny how opposite Natalie's eating is to Sarah and Angela's. She has always had a more sensitive tummy. Anyway, we already got on the "blacklist" with the district for missing too much school because of our Disneyland trip and a couple illnesses that took Nat out for 2-3 days. So when her tummy is hurting and there aren't' other symptoms I have to give her a pep talk about being brave. She is a home body, so she prefers to be home anyway and most of the time her tummy aches go away.

On one morning last Wednesday, she said she had a tummy ache and didn't want to go to school. We made a deal that if she would go and be brave, I would come and eat lunch with her.

At 10:30 (yes, lunch is at 10:30! Ridiculous...) - I headed over for our date. (Angela was at preschool.) Mrs. B. said Natalie had been acting fine all morning which was good. When Natalie saw me, she had a huge grin on her face and ran up to me with a HUGE hug. She always does that and it melts my heart every time. She was so excited for our lunch date and we had such a fun time. She definitely was feeling better, which was nice to see so I didn't worry about her.

After Nat finished her lunch, I went out to play with her for a few minutes at recess. I pushed her on the swing. And let me tell you, when an adult offers to push a child on a swing - suddenly you hear a chorus from every other kid on a swing. "Push me! Push me!" So I ran back and forth pushing about six kids for a while until I had to go. Natalie walked with me to where the van was, giving me lots of hugs along the way and smiling so big. I could tell that our lunch date meant a lot to her and it made me feel so happy to do something so simple for her that brought her so much joy. I need to do that more often.

As I drove away she waved with a huge grin and then skipped off happily back to her friends. She skipped all the way across the playground. I drove slow so I could watch her for a minute. It was such a sweet moment seeing how the simplest thing could make my sweet Nat so exceedingly happy. At that moment I felt so grateful and so happy. So grateful I could be a stay at home mom with my girls so I could do things like this. And so grateful for my sweet girls who don't ask for much - just to be loved and to be shown it in simple ways. Children are the greatest blessing we could ever be given. And with all the hard work, headaches, lack of sleep, worry and stress - there is nothing that makes my heart soar or that brings me more joy than the huge hugs, smiling faces and the laughter of my sweet girls. I am so happy to be a mom and drove away from school that day with tears of joy and gratitude.