Catching Tears with My Heart

She was born three years ago and my life hasn’t been the same since. How could I ever have imagined that his little girl would be so amazing. Here I’ve been wandering through the first four decades of my life thinking I didn’t need kids. How ignorant, I have been.

Today we took my beautiful innocent three year-old into see the doctor for a check-up. Everyone was excited to meet the new doctor. We had been speaking of this visit with anxious anticipation.

During the visit it was decided that our little sweetheart should get a flu shot. She’s had shots before, and she has been hurt before, but today was different. Today our little girl had her heart broken; deliberately.

She cried and cried. I held her in my arms. The look on her face was one of disbelief, betrayal, and confusion. “Why would my momma and daddy let them do that to me?” I could see it.

Afterward we went out for pancakes.

All day long she talked about her “poke.” She favored that leg and protected the band-aid. As we lay in bed ready to say our nightly prayers, I asked her what we should pray about. Over and over again, before the prayer and after, she reminded me to pray for her poke.

As I write this, tears well up in my eyes. It is a terrible thing to watch my little girl lose her innocence. It wasn’t supposed to be this way.