Tender Moment with Charley

Smart.  Sassy.  Creative.  Affectionate.  Funny.  Energetic.  Spirited.  Head-strong….all words that could describe Charley at any given moment.  Tender or thoughtful are ones that I pray will make the list soon.   From time to time, she surprises me with a tender moment that shows me that we are hopefully on the right track.  The other night driving from Granny Martha and Granddaddy Charlie’s house out to Amma and Granddad’s house, our conversation went like this:

Me: Oh look Charley, I just saw a cat…I don’t like cats!!

Charley:  Why?  Because they have claws?  They have whiskers, too.

Me: How’d you know that?

Charley: Sawyer and Jace were talking about cats at school, and they told me.  I don’t like cats either Mommy!  I do like dogs, though!

Me:  I guess that makes us dog girls!

Charley:  Yeah, we’re dog girls!

For the next five minutes I went on to tell Charley about my favorite dogs over the years.  Starting with Dierks, my dog from college that lived in Kentucky with Amma and Granddad.  I told her about all of the tricks he could do and about taking him to puppy school and how he would always run to my car when I came to visit.  I told her that he got sick and died when she was one month old.  I told her about Jake, our yellow lab that was so smart and how he loved to ride in the back of Granddad Mike’s truck or in the front seat of the Jeep with me.  She particularly loved the part where I would take him to Belew’s to get an ice cream cone.  And about Harley, the chocolate lab that was so silly.  She laughed so hard when I told her about the time we came home and the door to the house was open and we walked into the living room to find that crazy dog lying on the couch with all four legs in the air.  And that we had another yellow lab that was always into things and we had to change his name to Trouble!  Charley was so tickled by all of my dogs and the stories about them.  Then as we pulled onto Frizzell Drive, she got quiet and took me by surprise with:

Charley:  Mommy…when you get to heaven, you will get to see Dierks again. 

Me:  (Fighting back the tears) Oh Baby, you are exactly right.  You are so sweet to remind Mommy of that. 

Charley:  Mommy…I’m crying…

Me: I cannot wait to get out of this car and hug you for being so sweet and thoughtful.

Bless that sweet child’s heart.  She has never experienced loss, but knew that Mommy had lost something precious, and she comforted me in the most precious way.  So much that her little tender heart was touched and it brought her to tears, too.

Dierks

Dierks and "Charley" in Momma's tummy

Jake

 Harley

Trouble