Lessons learned
There’s a little girl (well, I should probably call her a ‘young lady’) in my life who makes me smile every day. She arrives at the door, bang on 7.45am every morning: hair brushed, uniform neat, lunch packed, ready for her lift to the bus stop. She always has a smile, always chats (the dentist went okay, the braces are a bit tighter but don’t hurt too much, she’s pleased about her Dad’s new girlfriend and about the fact that I sewed up her trousers and she’s not treading on them any more) and always waits politely until we’re ready to go (we’re usually waiting for #1 who is scrabbling around finding games kits/lost trainers/bus passes/pencil case…).
This morning at the bus stop, we spy the bus approaching. I wish them a lovely day and they get out of the car, waving me goodbye: my big lad and this lovely girl. As she gets on, she turns and gives me that shy smile. My heart melts.
I smile back at this self assured young lady, shiny in her new uniform, remembering her dancing down the aisle in her beautiful bridesmaid’s dress. Gone is the awkward little thing that hardly spoke, who looked at her feet – or to her Dad – if you asked her a question, and here in her place is a lovely girl, a nearly-teen, enjoying her first term at secondary school, making friends, meeting new people, grappling hefty school bags and new timetables.
Every time I wake up in the morning, groan when I hear the alarm, or worry about the future… money… the recession… the mortgage, I think of this little girl battling through life without her Mum, being a big sister, helping out at home, with a maturity beyond her years and – against all odds – that smile.
49 Responses to “Lessons learned”
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x
C would be proud!
and I’m all teary too…….feck! :blush:
Thank you! x
Lovely post and I can only imagine the courage it takes to be as strong as that special little (or not so little now) girl.
(says she with a tear in her eye)
A mother/daughter relationship sprang to mind when I read it. You are there if she needs you xx
Thankyou! x
Love to all. x
I’m so pleased that she’s battling on with courage and determination, and managing to enjoy herself a little bit in the process. Poor little mite.
I bet she thinks of you as a surrogate Mum.
Onwards and upwards.
x
Insomniac Mummy – my Mum used to say “Onwards and upwards” all the time