Confession

Dear Baby Girl, Yesterday, your mother did some silly things.

She had stayed up until 1 a.m. finalizing her students' grades. And then, because Daddy was at work, she felt lonely so she kept herself company with Ruby, who is still on her weight loss journey. So she really went to bed at 2 a.m.

At 7 a.m. you woke up. But it was still slightly dark so Mama let you believe it was still night, rocked you and put you back to bed.

At 9:30 a.m., you woke up, and so did Mama because she was using you as an alarm clock.

Mama immediately scrambled around the house to put on clothes and get you ready for music class which starts at 10 a.m.

She promised you that you would get a muffin on the way. You were very excited by the prospect of muffins, of visiting the Muffin Man, who may or may not live on Drury Lane.

Mama bought you a donut. And she called it a muffin. And you wolfed that muffin that was really a donut with ravaging gusto. Meanwhile Mama ate a muffin that was really a muffin in the front seat where you couldn't see.

Mama had not showered in three days so she stayed slightly outside the circle at music class, to which you were 25 minutes late.

Because of her work schedule this past week, you also had not been bathed in at least three days. Okay, it had been four.

Later, Mama took you to lunch at the Chinese restaurant with Auntie Joy. Mama ordered two fruit punch drinks, both for herself, and both came with Hawaiian leis wrapped around them. Mama announced to Auntie Joy, "Here Joy, you need to get leid." And with that, Mama regretted she ever said that out loud in front of you.

After your nap, it was time to go to the bank and to the gas station and to the grocery mart. It was almost sabbath, though, which is to say that the sun was almost completely out of sight, but Mama was hoping the sun might stay out a couple minutes longer so she could buy some rations before turning into a pumpkin.

Mama couldn't find both of your socks and because it was frightfully cold, Mama decided that you would still need footwear for the errands running, largely because people look at her like she is Jon Gosselin if she doesn't put shoes on you, so what did you wear to the grocery store? You wore Elmo slippers. Big fluffy red slippers with two perma-grinning Elmo heads on top. They conveniently matched your red coat.

By 6:30 p.m., Mama wanted to take a nap of her own, but she was desperate to go to Bible study, so Daddy let her go, even though she still had not practiced good hygiene.

Thankfully, God has already accepted her, dirt and all, and hopefully one day you will do the same, many years after you read this and long after you have wrung your mother's heart out like a rag after she forgot to pick you up from Girl Scouts (she thought it was Tuesday; it was really Wednesday). One day you will know deeply how loved you are, how your Mama always tried to do her best, turning donuts into muffins, and hard days into happy ones with you.

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