But I have never experienced this kind of love, an unconditional
love! It amazes me that with this act of her, the guilt that I have been
carrying all through about my work, career, entertainment etc. Has just gone!
For just this moment, giving up all that for my child was 100% worth. All the
dissatisfaction has turned into pride of being a mother.
Mommies out there I tell you, these little children have so much in them that we just can't except. They keep surprising us. All the anguish that we go through because we have not achieved something is just gone! You have achieved it! You are responsible for another life in this universe. And this is not just an achievement. It’s a conquest. Not everyone is good at this. If they are, then there won’t be so much crime in this world.
This happened very recently for my birthday. Between my husband, daughter and me, we have a policy. We ask each other what they want to do for their birthday and then we do that. This time, I chose to travel for my birthday.
My 5 year old daughter was very excited about my birthday; she said she is going to make some surprises for me. She planned this a week before, got all the materials and asked for stuff that she needed. In all this she never told me what she was doing and I was not allowed into her room. She got help from her aunt and two days later, she was ready with the presents.
We planned to drive to Pondicherry on Friday morning and return on Sunday. Sunday, the 24th of July was my birthday. We were all busy with our usual routine and suddenly she comes to me and says ‘amma, you know something’ and she continues...She says that she doesn’t like to travel if we are going to return on Sunday itself. It took a while for me to understand her thought process. She says, Sunday is your birthday and birthday’s are to be celebrated in nice places. Not in the car. Car is not a place to celebrate a birthday and also how will we cut a cake in a moving car? That too when naana(Dad in telugu) is driving, he can’t also participate in the celebration! We are a family and we have to do everything together. So she wanted to leave on Saturday and come back on Monday. That was hard for my husband as be pushed all his meeting from Friday to Monday.
She discussed with her father to get a cake and how to present the gifts to me. She packed her own suitcase (which she never did before!) with the gifts. I was instructed not to touch her suitcase ‘coz there is something inside which I can see only later. The excitement that she showed the whole time was worth a watch. She practiced how to present the gifts to me. She assumed my reactions. Importantly, in the process where I was not allowed into the room and was not allowed in the discussions with her dad, she treated me with at most care making sure I don’t feel bad any where!
I was astonished! It was too much for a 5 year old to plan and think so much. At that moment I felt that she was just my reflection. Is this why daughters are so cute! Her thought process flabbergasted me.
For her to understand the sense of money, we give her jobs (some work in the kitchen, gardening work, etc. These don’t include her duties.) and pay her 10/- when she is done with that particular job. This time it was her turn. She owned my birthday celebrations. She took the responsibility of making sure I get everything i wanted. She paid her father from the money she earned and she told him Thank you for driving for amma’s birthday. I think for her brain size it was the cutest gesture. Its true that children are a shadow of their parents. She also told him that she is unhappy that we spent the actual day in the car. But she is ok ‘coz amma is happy. I haven’t done anything extraordinary for her in last 5 years. Why does she love me so much?
Isn’t this a true act of Love? I have never felt so much love from any one. This is the day ‘m proud of my daughter. Not because
she did all this for me. But because I know she is very compassionate and
considerate. She thinks of other people. According to me this is a very
important quality one should have to live and let live.
I feel she is hinting me in which direction I have to bring her up. She is the apple of my eye. My respect for her has increased by many folds. I’m very lucky to have her as my daughter and I pray that she grows up to be a very good individual and a responsible citizen.
People say that the best gift humans have is forgetfulness. I don’t want to forget this incident and when she is big enough to understand life, I want to tell her that this little act of love touched me. Lots of love, Namratha
