I have been away from my family for eleven days now. I am in Aspen, Colorado where I needed to reopen my store for the season. There have been a great many things I needed to attend to, so here I am.
And there they are.
In New York city, my family – Richard, our son, Nic and Emma, the star of this blog. To say I miss them would be an understatement. I hear from Emma’s teachers. They email with updates and about how Emma had a rough day the other day because the rest of her class was allowed to go to the roof to swim, but Emma had to have her final session with her music teacher, and so stayed behind. Emma loves nothing more than water and swimming. So she was beside herself, upset, crying and my guess is she hurt herself, though I haven’t confirmed this suspicion.
Later, an old classmate came to the school to visit and Emma was so excited to see her. She kept saying, “Maddie’s back, Maddie go home on the bus on Wednesday, Maddie in Becky’s class”.
When they tried to explain that Maddie was only visiting and would not return, Emma kept insisting Maddie was back.
These kinds of things are hard for me to hear, the distance between me and Em making it all the more so. I can’t hold her, I can’t be there to lessen the load for my husband, I can’t really do much other than call and listen.
People say – you’re changing diapers one day and then you’re helping load up their u-haul with their things. It all goes by so quickly. But whether one has children or not, it still goes by quickly. Children are just larger than life markers of it.
Stop and look around, I tell myself, you’re in one of the most beautiful places in the world.
And then I remind myself to breathe.
For more on Emma’s impact on our lives and how we cope, go to www.EmmasHopeBook.com
Emma's Hope Book 