Still My Baby Girl

She's eleven now. Preteen. Growing like a weed. Most likely hormonal. Fights with her sister -- constantly. Doesn't need help with schoolwork. Wants to accomplish everything by herself.  But tonight she was my little girl again.  It's probably due to the fact that Jeff is out of the country, but I don't care.  

As Abigail was getting into bed she hugged me and held on longer than normal. Like she really wanted me to be there. How could I pass up the opportunity? "Do you want me to read  you a story?" I asked. "Sure," she responded. I told her I would choose the books.  Silly choices on my part, really. Two were books I had as a child:  "The Big Golden Book of Counting" (probably on a toddler level) and "Little Black Sambo," still a favorite. The other was "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" by T.S. Eliot.   I told her all the things I remembered that I loved about them as a child. We laughed as I read them in the voices my mother read them to me in.  ("Oh! Please Mr. Tiger, don't eat me up!")  I read about a couple of Eliot's cats and we had a hard time not singing them with the music from "CATS."  

A wonderful moment for me brought to us by Spring Break -- a great time to slow down, spend time with family, and stay up late reading silly books.  How often we just wish our kids would GO TO BED because we are tired and have so much to do before we can get in bed ourselves.   Thankfully, we have all week to stay up late, reading...and Abigail has already picked out our book for tomorrow night.