The Road to Grown-Up Land

It's bedtime.  In the darkness, she quietly sobs out her hurt, a minor illness subduing her normally bouyant spirit.  Then her fear escapes with the question, "What if it hurts during the night?"

I sit on the edge of her bed.  She is soothed by my hand rubbing circles on her back.  The tears fade away as she rests more peacefully on her pillow.

Like so many times before, this long-limbed, blonde-haired girl with the lightly freckled nose and ready smile, crawls up into my heart and settles down there.

A little while later, I check on her.  She lies there in abandon, breathing deeply, pain forgotten, lost in the realm of sleep.

What treasured days are these - the happiness and laughter, the hurts and tears - all part of the journey that is taking us ever more rapidly down the road to grown-up land.