My six year old granddaughter sits in the blue rocker by the window with her lanky legs folded underneath her. Long-faced, she’s staring at the tree outside. Her chin is quivering. “What’s the matter, Sweetheart?” I ask her in a quiet voice. Her face crumples like a balloon that has lost its air; tears well up and overflow. She’s trying to hold her sorrow in, but her heart hurts too much. She wails, “Mommy’s gone and I miss her so much.”

I begin to explain the reasons for her mother’s absence, the need for her to return to her new job, to ready their new house in another city. But something tells me, this is not what this little one needs.

Suddenly, a small voice, the voice of my own little girl speaks up, rather loudly and it surprises me. “She needs you to hear.” I reach out to my granddaughter. “Come to Grandma. Come and have a hug.” She’s in my lap, and my arms wrap around her like wings. She’s sobbing now, face pressed against my shoulder. My voice barely a whisper, my inner child talks to her about how I wanted my mother’s attention too.

“A little girl needs her mommy, doesn’t she?” I crooned. My own tears run down my cheeks as I remember the Grandma-time I wished for but didn’t have when I was small and my mother was busy tending my siblings.

We cuddle for a long time, without speaking. “Thank you for sharing a God-moment,” I tell her. “I like it when our hearts touch.” She looks up at me and grins.

~ Kathie Sutherland