Dear Jenna,
Today was such a busy day for me. Running here and there in the middle of a snowstorm...trying to keep up with paperwork and stuff daddy needed done for school...I was exhausted! And after spending much of my day in the snow, I just wanted to come home and snuggle up in a big blanket.
And then I remembered that tomorrow is your last day of school for the week, meaning that it would be the day you bring Valentine's cards. I didn't want you to get to school and be crushed when other people were passing things out, and you had nothing, so we got all bundled up again and went back out into the blowing snow to go to the store.
I have to admit, the whole time I was thinking..."you owe me. You owe me big. You owe me for dragging myself out in the cold to make sure you have stinkin' cards to pass out...and you owe me for doing your laundry and making your lunch and bringing you a special snack after school every day and cleaning your room...and you owe me for all the times you go to the school nurse with silly ailments (like a potential loose tooth) that result in me getting called or notes sent home with instructions to give you pain medication...oh it makes me feel like such a lousy mom!"
But then as we got back in the car to go home, I listened to you count to 100 twice...and watched you tromp through the deep snow instead of the nicely shoveled path...and when we got home and you were in bed, I told you we would wakeup early so you could write you name on them. You were taken back...and crushed...because somewhere in all this you had thought you were sending Valentine cards in the mail, to everyone in the world...
And it was then I realized that it isn't you who owes me...
It is me that owes YOU...
for teaching me that there are more people to think about in life than just myself...
and for showing me that sometimes the best path is the one not already taken...
and for making me see that you are one incredible little girl.
I love you Jenna.
I always will.
Love, mom
