My Little Girl

Today I was ready to drive out of town to visit some clients for the upcoming issue of SKY Magazine.  On my way there, I telephoned my daughter to see how her day was going.

Her voice crackled. “I’m not very good today.”  “Why?” I asked.  “Because today is our baby’s first day at daycare and I am having a hard time being without him. I miss him.”

Why don’t you go pick him up now, I asked.  She explained that he was sleeping and didn’t want to to disturb him now.  She said she had to get used to this because babysitters and day cares are difficult to find and giving up the spot means not being able to go to work. As I could feel her broken heart through her voice, my heart broke too.

Most mothers have to work, and so that means childcare is a necessity in life.  I remember the first day that I had to leave my little girl with a baby sitter, and I cried all day too.  As a mother, we don’t often have the opportunity to do what we want. We do what we have to do to raise our children just to provide the basic essentials for them. As a young mother, I did not have the choice to turn my car around and stay home. Today, I just wanted to hug her through the phone and make all the pain go away.

At that moment, I knew that my work plans were not nearly as important as what she was going through, and so I did what I wished I could have done countless times before as a mother - I dropped my work plans and picked her up to spend the day together and take her mind off of her broken heart.

We went shopping to some of my favourite places to cheer her up with a new outfit or two, and we were successful.  She was smiling at the end of the day, and thanked me.  At that moment, she was my little girl again.