Surprises

There are things about being a Mother that you can expect to love. The smiles, the giggles, the hugs, the laughs, those quiet moments, those big moments when your child learns to tie her shoe or ride her bike, the first time you hear her read a few words. It's no surprise really when you find yourself in love with those things and find yourself craving them. It's no surprise to watch her walk across the room and know that, there in that little body, there is your heart- now and forever.
There are things that you love from the first or end up loving-eventually. Things that no one else seems to ever bother telling you about. These are things that are little and maybe a nuisance, things that-- well surprise you, when you find that you love them. Then when you realize that these are the things that are the glue between all of those other expected and wonderful moments, when you know that these things are there because SHE is there-
epiphany.

• Dirt piles. When I sweep my floors now, all of my dirt piles have glitter in them. This always makes me smile. It's as if that little girl magic has infiltrated every bit of this old house.
• Finding items put away "wrong". Like when she helps and it's not perfect or the way that you have done it for umpteen odd years.
• Hearing her bedroom door slam when she stalks off to her room in a tizzy.
• The endless arguments and battles between human child and feline child.
• Tripping over the stray cooties foot left in the floor.
• Scraps of paper. I never thought that I would say this, but she has won me over to her side with the scraps of paper. When she was sick last week, she sat with markers and tissues and colored me up bits of tissues to "decorate" with. They were lovely and everywhere. I am sure that my visiting in laws wondered what was up.
• Watching her "smoke" her corn cob pipe.
• Listening to one silly potential sibling name after another. her current fave for a brother? Well, "Super Duck" has just taken the lead from "Live Long and Prosper". For a sister "Candy Cane" and "Lantern" are big time faves.
• Waking up in the middle of the night to help her find a lost animal.
• Arguing with her about if we should eat Subway first or go to Costco first.
• Explaining in detail every single aspect to every single moment of my day.
• Stopping what ever it is that I am doing approximately every 32 seconds to "look mama"
• My refrigerator. I used to have a wonderfully clean and uncluttered fridge- not any more. It is covered with pictures and scraps of art work, colored pages torn from coloring books, alphabet stickers- you name it, it's on the fridge and I LOVE it.
• Having your work on the adoption stopped, or having to stop working on a job application or your resume because some little person desperately needs a Popsicle, or because the cat is chewing her Barbie, or because she needs a drink, or because she is hiding and wants you to find her and sometimes it's all of these things - at once. Or it's a hundred other little things that she is asking for just so you will stop and look at her.

There are about a gajillion others but I think that you get the point.

It's. All. Good.