"Because I don’t want you to grow old and die"

Last night as we were going to bed my daughter said to me, “Mama, I don’t want to grow up. I don’t want to go to office or become a doctor (these are the things she says she wants to do when she grows up). I want to stay as I am right now.” I thought most probably she is sick of going to school and so I asked, “Why baby?” “Because I don’t want you to grow old and die”, was her prompt reply. I was absolutely overwhelmed with her answer and my eyes welled up because she said it with such seriousness I could see she absolutely meant it.

It’s amazing how much kids know about the process of life and also the amount of love all children have for their parents. You could be the ugliest person in the world but your child will always say that you are beautiful. You could be missing a nose for all they cared, and you would still be perfect. You could give them the worst spanking of their lives and still be sure to be forgiven. You could be the most hated person in the world but your child will love you irrespective. That is the innocence and the beauty of the love that a child has for its parents.

But as all god things come to an end it is absolutely shattering that this love will also come to an end. I know that this amazing love, this unquestionable surety with which she loves me isn’t going to last forever, that there might even come a time when she might start to hate me. I shudder at the thought, but for now I am HAPPY to bask in her love…….for as long as it lasts.