Mama, I found you!
My toddler yells and screams and runs headlong toward me at the beach, slapping the wet sand with her feet. She is sunscreen-greasy in her hot pink polka dots and she wraps her arms, cold from the spring ocean, around my legs.
Ah, Mama….I found you….
Its a sigh now, not a bellow. I had taken her older sister down the beach to the tide pools for all of twenty minutes. Her father had chased her around the ankle deep water while we had been gone, digging holes with her and protecting her from the occasional toddler-waist deep wave.
We are back now from our short exploration, and Naomi almost tackles me in the surf, apparently waiting for me this whole time.
Hug, hug, Mama.
I scoop her up, the wet sand from her body now all over me. She found me. And she giggles as I kiss her gritty cheek.
Funny, I didn’t know I had been misplaced.
To her – in her short-term memory baby mind – I had been lost. Twenty minutes probably seemed like a week to her, even though she was doing her own exploration with shovels and sand toys and shallow sea-pools dug in the sand.
I hadn’t been lost, but she found me anyway. And to be honest, it felt so good to be found.
In a wide sense, these girls HAVE found me. I have a different purpose, a narrower focus and more tangible goals than before I began mothering. They’ve changed me in vast ways, in good ways. They’ve hugged away bitterness with cold-beach-arms and melted away hurt with sandy, smiling faces.
They have helped me find me.
they found you just like you found us…all our love, dad (and mom)
I just love this post.
It’s true for me, too – 8 months into this mothering gig – and my daughter brings out the best in me everyday. I feel like being a mom is making me the best version of myself. I never expected that. It’s a welcome surprise.
it is good to be found, good to be swept away in a child’s unconditional love.
soo sweet! i love the look, the power of their love when they “find” you. it fills my heart more than i can describe.
I love your blog. You remind me of me before having teenagers turning me into a wretched biddy.
Aw….
I wish my 2 year old would find me—she’s such a daddy’s girl!
The beach exploration sounds fun!
Beautifully written. It does feel good to be found… it’s good to find our place doing what He wants us to do. I love how God uses our children.
And now… I want to be found on a beach somewhere!!
What a blessing these little hearts are…only imagine how Jesus feels about us.
Beautiful, beautiful post as always.