Do you wanna play with me?

OK....so now that I've shared my likely now infamous "Reese's story" (see below), I'll share with you what was really on my mind this morning when I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep (and still can't....it's now 4:45am).

By the time A and I got to the park yesterday, it was coming upon 5pm and a lot of folks were headed home. I had brought her new Hello Kitty bike for her to practice riding and off we went with the two dogs in tow as well. She did a super job riding her bike and we had a nice little walk. Well, by the time we got back to the playground, there weren't any kids she could play with, so she entertained herself by sliding down the slide for me several times. Sheer delight, for her and me. A little while later, another little girl, who was probably a year or two older than Annie came along and started playing on the same playset as A. Well, this is where my heart just broke in two.

Let me preface by saying that our sweet A sincerely LOVES people. She is completely unafraid (most of the time) when she meets new people. It's not unlike her to say hello to almost everyone she passes by. This little girl was no exception. After checking her out for a few seconds, she asked what she has asked countless numbers of other boys and girls, "Do you wanna play with me?" Now, I couldn't hear the little girl's response, but it wasn't a yes. And it really frustrated my little girl. She just wanted someone to play with. As a Mom, it was heartbreaking. Behind my sunglasses, I teared up and probably could have boohoo'd right then and there. I thought about how hard it is to live in this world. How not everyone is going to want to play with my daughter. How not everyone will like her and definitely not come close to loving her like I do.

I just wanted to scoop her up and tell her that she is loved more than she could possibly imagine and to not let some random little girl spoil her day. Thankfully, she recovered rather quickly and moved on to the next thing....."mom....will you push me on the swing!?!" Yes, sweet girl, Yes, I will.