I love you Hardt!

A friend has been out of town the last couple of days so I have basically been surrogate Mother to her 3 year old daughter Natalia. It’s been fairly easy, especially since the nanny has been here to feed her, help her to bed at night, get her ready for school… But my hardest task every morning has been the school drop off. Each morning when we leave the house she’s ready for a fun day at school, she jabbers the entire way there giving me a running commentary on the world outside and tells me a million times “I love you Hardt”, and as soon as we get there she jumps out of the car grabs my hand and leads me inside. But it’s inside that an abrupt change happens. Gone is the smiling happy girl, and instead she is replaced by the very shy sad one who clings to me as if I was the last lifeboat on the Titanic. I find it all amusing, seeing that she spends most of her day (5 days a week) with her teachers and only sees me when I come over for swim lessons or pick up Alissa to go out for the evening. But nonetheless, she clings to my leg, sits on my lap, gives me numerous hugs and kisses before I leave and in a soft tearful voice says “I love you Hardt”… now she’s been known to tell the car I love you, and would probably cling to the dog if it came with us to school but still it’s nice to have someone really need you, even if it’s only for 10 minutes every morning. But with that said, I breathe a sigh of relief when I get back into my car, open the sun roof and blast the radio on my way home. Because as nice as it is to have someone tell you that they love you over and over again, it’s equally as nice to just have some quiet. And as much as I would like a family and my white picket fence, I realize that I don’t want that for a couple of years (at least 5!)… And that moment of clarity makes being single just a little bit sweeter!