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My baby girl is always the first to miss her daddy when we go away on trips. This time we’re on a ten day trip to the grandparents. The kids were so excited, bags packed days in advance, plans of where to go, what to eat, why mom had to be there at all discussed repeatedly.
Still, it wasn’t even two days into the trip and my little girl is missing daddy. I send a picture with love messages to dad. “We miss you,” reads the caption. Though true for all of us, it’s the littlest among us who is verbal about it.
Three days into the trip, there are tears, “I miss daddy so much.”
“I know you do,” I comfort ineffectually. “We’ll see him soon.”
My words sound hollow so I follow them up with some more platitudes, “we’re having so much fun”, “he misses us too”, etc.
Then I get the idea to have her list all the ways daddy shows her his love in hopes of bringing a smile to that sweet tear stained face. Without hesitation she begins her list.
“He reads to me, he praises me, he goes to church with me…” What else sweet baby? She’s on a roll and starting to smile though there are still tears rolling down her cheeks. “He spends time with me, he makes cookies with me.”
I listen to her list in awe because I think it’s all there, the important stuff. If there is nothing else her daddy does with her to show her love, he does those things, spends time, goes to church, makes cookies. It’s sure making me miss him a whole lot more right about now.