Your Love Is Better Than Ice Cream

Today I discovered Liesel loves me. That may sound odd, but for a full-time working mother with an hour and a half daily commute I get precious little time with her. As much as I'd like to think the mother-daughter bond transcends the hours of the day, it's hard not to feel like I'm only a minor character in her life. Especially when she'd ditch me for a bowl of ice cream (see previous post)

Today was bitterly cold and after a longer than usual T ride, I jumped in the car at the parking garage. I only drove it about two feet when I knew I had a flat tire. Thus began the raft of phone calls. One unanswered to Brent. Then AAA, Libby to pick up Liesel, KinderCare to tell them Libby was picking up Liesel, Brent again to explain everything then answering calls from all those people and calling them again. In the meantime I stayed warm by picking up a hot chocolate from Dunkin Donuts and waiting in the Bank of America kiosk. To pass the time I answered emails on my BB and perused the graffiti.

The AAA dude was fascinatingly efficient. I only had a $1 and $20 so I splurged and tipped him the $20 considering it was perhaps 2 degrees. As I left the parking garage I noticed he'd pulled over just outside the pay booths for another flat-tire damsel in distress. The driver was an older woman and I hoped my call had gotten him there for her earlier than he would have been. Lucky me, I was just in time for the worst of rush hour traffic. With a donut on my driver's side rear tire, I finally headed over to Libby's to pick up my girl.

Liesel's been to the Bosses too many times to count. We can't walk in the door without Scott or Libby taking her out of our hands for a cuddle. Their girls are a whirl of chatter and activity that Liesel just loves. She also loves their ceiling fan. I know, it's random but it's also completely true. She'll just stare at it. Anyway, when I walked in the door I could hear her crying the same way she does when she's just received her immunizations. Like life is just too painful to bear. It's so sweet and so pathetic. I naturally assumed she was hungry or tired or someone had taken her toy away. When I walked in she stopped. As I gathered my girl up in my arms they told me she just wanted her mom. Scott told me she'd looked around and could sense something wasn't quite right and that's when she broke down.

Would you consider me draconian if I admit I was SO happy about all this? She knows who I am! Furthermore, she missed me! Now I'm pretty sure if I died she'd notice I was gone. Before I had my doubts. Hooray!!! Tonight Liesel was a bit clingy and truth be told so was I. Technically it was Brent's turn to put her to bed but I happily cuddled with her as she finished her bottle and drifted off to sleep. Oh I'm so relieved!