This fall I have had the privilege to deliver and pick up a three-almost-four-year-old to Junior Kindergarten each day. Having never had children this is foreign territory to me but I must boast that I think I am doing okay at it. We’ve never been late in the morning and so far I have not forgotten to pick her up at, what she announces as, “the end of the day”.
It is fun to soak in her excitement each day. She practically vibrates every morning as she anticipates the delight of learning: new words, new books, new friends, life is a grand experience of all things new. Yesterday, she was “The Leader” for the day – this meant she got to lead the line whenever they moved about and she got to sit in the big blue rocking chair, and she got to use the pointer to show the other children the new words they were learning, and so on. The EA (God bless the teachers and EA’s of Primary School) took a picture of our little girl in action and texted it out to mom and dad who forwarded it to everyone in the family so all could appreciate how she is growing up.
But here is something I have noticed and this is what I really want to write about. When we arrive home, almost always, the first thing mom asks is, “Did you eat your lunch?” This is followed by a digging out of the lunch kit and a thorough examining of what is held within. Daily, the conversation goes something like, “You ate your yogourt but you didn’t eat your sandwich. Why didn’t you eat your sandwich?” “You ate your sandwich but you didn’t eat your apple. Why didn’t you eat your apple?” At first I thought it was mom’s way of checking up on nutrition, well-being and intake. And it is, of course, all of that, but I have realized it is also her way of saying, “I missed you.” “How was your day?” “I love you.”
Love is shown in such small and sometimes seemingly insignificant ways but in ways that shape our life. Let me feed you. Let me help you. Let me talk with you. Let me listen to you. Small words. Big love. My little three-almost-four-year-old passenger does not understand at this point in her life that her’s mom’s persistent questions are really about love. When she is an adult she won’t remember the questions her mom asked her about her lunch kit but she will remember the feeling of being enveloped in love the minute she walked in the door each day after school. She won’t remember the words but she will remember the love.
