The Nicest Thing I Can Say

Dear Laney,

There's a scene in the play Steel Magnolias where the character Truvy (later played in the movie by Dolly Parton) says, "My son Louie brought his new girlfriend home last night, and the nicest thing I can say about her is all her tattoos are spelled correctly." I tell you that, so I can tell you this:

Today was rough. You were sick and feverish and ornery, and I did my best to rise to the occasion. I hid medicine in a smoothie. I scratched your back for hours. I watched an entire season of The Backyardigans. I picked M&Ms out of the trail mix. I read the same book about dinosaurs a dozen times. I took you for a 3-mile walk in your stroller. Somewhere in the middle of all that, I was peed on.

I spent half an hour setting up a finger painting area, so you could paint for four minutes.

I thought a cool bath might help with your fever - you disagreed. I fought dirty by taking your baby doll into the bathroom with me, and pretending like I didn't care if you joined us or not. Who needs you, when splashing around with this doll is SO DANG FUN?? I totally preyed upon your onlychilditis, and you were in the tub with us in no time flat.

...which brings us back to Truvy. I thought of that quote today, because my version would be, "My daughter Laney brought her illness home from day care, and the nicest thing I can say about today is that it's over."

Love,

Mom