Because He Prayed For Her

Yesterday I got a picture of Cute Karsie in the mail. It was sitting on the counter when my son climbed up onto it this morning to watch his waffle toast.

"Mommy? Is this me when I was a baby?"

"No." I answered.

Something you should know about my son. It doesn't matter how old a baby is. It doesn't matter if it's a girl child or a boy child. It doesn't make a single bit of difference if the baby is Caucasian, African-American, Asian. It probably wouldn't matter if the baby was a martian. He always thinks it's him.

"Who is it?" He questioned.

"That's Karsie," I replied.

He looked, quizzically, at the photo in question, narrowed his eyes and tilted his head to one side. Puzzled, he replied, "She grew up?"

Yes, love, she grew up. If by growing up you mean turned one and is now on her way to 15 months.

"Yes," I answered.

"How old is she now?" He questioned.

I supplied, "She's one." Because you try explaining to a four-year-old how very important those one month milestones are for the mother of a child between the ages of zero and two.

"That's the same number Matthew is!"

"Yeah. Matthew's a little older than Karsie. But not a lot."

"I love her, Mom." He interjected. And I swear I had a flash forward to his teenage years when he'll fall in love with someone named Sophie or Emily or Addison and I won't approve because she'll wear her shorts too short and her shirts too low and he'll scream, "But I love her, Mom!" and two weeks later he'll be heartbroken because Sophie or Emily or Addison will have broken up with him to date his best friend, Caden or Jaden or Braden. These. These are the things I worry about.

"I know you love her, Garrett. She's a pretty special little girl."

"I wish we lived in California so I could see her all the time." Seriously. It's like he really loves her. "I miss her."

"What's so special about her, Dude?" Because I was honestly starting to think I was going to have to call Michelle up on the phone and arrange for her to pick my son up from the airport on account of the fact that he'd rather live with Karsie than with his mother.

"Well. The thing is. She was in the hospital. And there were all those cords all over her. And we prayed so much so she's really special. And I love her."

There you have it.