Maddi had a nightmare last night.
She walked into my room at 11:00 PM and told me with a clear, serious tone, “We should go to church and stay there all the time and Paul can keep us safe.”
I sing for Mass on Sunday nights and Paul is one of the other musicians that Maddi adores.
She continued, “Because boys can keep us safe, right mom? Not girls…right?”
I hugged her with all my love and said, “Oh, Maddi, your mom will keep you safe. Moms can keep little girls safe, too.”
Her mind was working overtime. Everything is scarier in the dark. I said a short prayer for God to protect us with all his angels and Maddi quickly told me, “No, not for angels, Mom! We need Spiderman!”
I added an addendum to my prayer and then told her that whenever we are scared we can pray to God.
Maddi replied, “But, I can’t see him. I wished God is a superhero.”
“He can be your superhero, Madelynn.”
Then she said, “Mom, when Jordan gets big and is a policeman he can be strong and he can be my dad and he can protect us.”
And in that moment I wished too for God to be a superhero—to take all his care and attention and bring a sense of safety and security to my daughter’s little life. For loss shakes us all in different ways. Especially those with tender hearts.
