partly

Last Tuesday (before the strep throat and related sickness) I took Myr shopping and then stopped at McDs for a shake. We were heading back, and it was a nice, sunny day (before this deep freeze set in) so I thought we could take a drive through the cemetery.

OK don't get all weird on me. The cemetery is nice, calm and pretty. Plus I like to make sure that my grandparents' grave is clean and nice. Kinda say hello to them. We drive through slowly and I point out the graves of relatives and talk about history and life and what Potter's Field is (or was)...

Anyhow, we were passing Grandma and Grandpa's grave and Myr says: "I wish I could have met them. I bet I would have liked them."

I said, "You would have. They were great people." Thought of a thousand possible topics about life and mortality then decided on something very neutral. "They would have loved you."

"MOM," she said, looking at me. "Everyone loves me."

It wasn't an arrogance or a "little princess" thing, it was just the calm knowledge that that's what a family is.

Heh. Somehow, despite all my mistakes, I (and my husband and all our families) have managed to give her a nice, secure confidence that she has people who love her and that she is worth loving. There is no doubt in her mind that her great-grandparents would have loved her.

Some days, it's really worth getting up.