My Love For You Is Big

Last night at dinner I got to sit next to my grandson, Kailyb. We talked about lots of stuff- his toys, what he wants to do at pre-school, life in the eye of a three year old. At one point I looked at him and told him I loved him sooooo much...that my love for him was bigger than the sky. He looked at me and said "yup, Mom, too."

So I looked at my daughter, Starla and smiled, asking if she said that to him. She smiled back and said, "Yes, many times." It was one of those moments that are so sweet as parent, the times where you get to look into the eyes of your grown child and re-discover the things that your kids took to heart and incorporated in themselves. Where you get to know that you did, indeed, do something right.

Because this is what I used to tell her. Many times.

Now that I'm on the other side of the teens, I understand even more how important it is for kids to grow up knowing that somewhere someone loves them unconditionally. I knew it was my primary job when they were little, and I've seen it reinforced hundreds of times over the years. We, as humans need this. The only way we get it so that it becomes a part of our deepest beings is for it to be learned when we are very young.

So when they were young, I made it a point to tell them over and over again that I loved them bigger than the sky. That when they were at school, when they were playing, no matter where they were that if they were feeling bad, to just look up at the sky and remember me and that I loved them bigger, WAY bigger than that.

I guess it worked.