I was tucking Madelynn into bed and during our nighttime prayers we listed everyone in our family for a blessing including aunts, uncles and cousins. The list was long with names. At the closing Maddi told me with a sad undertone in her voice, “You forgot daddy.”
Quickly I added his name to our prayer—a strong addendum.
Then reaching her hands into the air she stretched to give her dad a one-sided hug and made a kissing sound with her lips. She smiled at me…satisfied–the gesture completely rewarding.
I wonder why so much of life insists to be one-sided. How much fuller life is when shared. Loss has a wild way of taking sides, cutting us in half, making life ridiculously lonely.
I am mostly grateful tonight that my daughter is teaching me to defy feelings of one-sidedness. She refuses to forget. And she innocently shares a hug with those she loves the most…those who breathe right next to her along with someone who no longer walks this earth.
I am on her side.
