Last night I drove down to San Diego on my own, leaving Faith and Allie at home. I was driving down to attend a two-day conference here. Since Allie had to work today, the plan was for the two of them to stay back and then they would drive down to meet me today after she gets off work.
I packed my things after dinner with the two of them and as I was about to leave I called Faith over so I could say bye. I told her I was leaving and her face looked genuinely sad. She said that she wanted to come with me. I reassured her that she could come with mommy and see me the following day. She seemed to accept this answer and then turned back to entertain herself with something else.
It was heartwarming that she seemed distraught and expressed that she would miss me. However, I thought little of it as she quickly went back to playing. I had no idea what would happen after I left.
After getting on the road I soon got a phone call. Allie had tried to put Faith to bed but she was in tears because she wanted daddy to be putting her to bed. Over the last year, the two of us have gotten into our own routine for her bedtime. Apparently, in an attempt to calm Faith down, Allie offered to call me on speaker so I could pray with Faith before she went to bed. We prayed on speaker phone and I thought she would go to bed after that.
Nope.
I guess she was in tears for quite some time. And then she went to my bedroom and asked to join Allie in our bed. She then said she wanted to sleep on my pillow so she could smell me.
Oh, the feels!
Part of me was so warm inside hearing this. The other part wished she wasn’t so distraught that I was not there. And then still another part wanted to memorialize the whole thing because really, is she ever going to want daddy to be the one that tucks her in at night as much as this age/period in her life?
Embrace the memories, right?
