The child's attitude that changed, after she'd come to realize, how precious having a parent there for her, to pick her up is, after learning about what happened in a fellow classmate's, life, he'd lost his, mother already…translated…
Seeing how the night is growing deeper, my steps of rushing to the afterschool care program was with the guilt. I'd gone with my daughter like this every day, rushing into and out of the streets like so, soaking in the same moonlight, but, for the entire day, all we had was, that short hour in the morn after she wakes to be with one another, then we'd become, separated from each other, we couldn't, even, share our suppers together; due to this lack of connection of our lives, the relationships with my daughter, worsened by the days.
I'd, taken a glimpse at the time, close to EIGHT in the evening already!
Today, my daughter, who had, yet to, adjust to the schedules of the afterschool care program, will she still have that, heartbroken, fatigue face, waiting for me to, pick her, up? Although she's already in the, fifth grade, she still couldn't understand why I must, leave her behind, to send her into the afterschool programs, and had to, wait until the sun's completely set, to pick her up. As she got home, she'd continued giving me the silent treatment, locking herself into her bedroom, even on the, weekends too, it'd made me, defeated.
Finally, I'd, arrived at the door of the afterschool program, but, today was, unusually, quiet, peaceful, without the parents coming and going, to pick up their young, nor did I see my daughter, who'd, usually, waited for me at the front desk. The instructor ran over to me, told me, that because of the exams, the kids all had to review over their academic work, that they would be letting out, later.
illustration from UDN.com
I'd, let out a long sigh of, relief, finally, she wasn't, the one, waiting for me, this, time.
After a short while, my daughter finally, was, released from the class, I'd thought she would have a sour face, from all the academic load, but she'd looked, especially, peaceful for some, reasons.
As we got into the car, before I had the time, to take a closer look at, her, she'd started, talking to, me.
"Today, the teacher told the third grade boy, Tom's dad, that the smart watch he'd given to Tom for making the highest grade on the exams was so cool, Pieter who sat next to Tom said with envy, 'that's so good!'", Tom's dad told Pieter, "when you make the highest grades, your mom will give you one too!", and up to this, my daughter, paused.
I'd asked her, "then what happened?", "Then Pieter told him, 'my mom died in a car wreck.'"
I seemed to have heard that deep inhale from my daughter in the backseat, and stared at me from my rearview, my heart skipped a couple of beats, as she'd told me, that the young boy's mother had, died. At this very moment, what we took for ordinary, as things that happen to us every single day, seemed, especially, precious and too far beyond, our, reaches.
After that day, my daughter's attitude was, completely, changed, even as I'd arrived very late to pick her up, she'd, taken my hand, as we, cross the, intersections.
This is this young child's, realizing, that having a mom there is a blessing, and the child realized, that her mother had done everything she could, to be there for her, but sometimes, the mother just, wasn't able to, because of how she needed to provide for the two of them, and, through the classmate's experiences, the daughter learned, to appreciate her mother more, because she still had her mother with her, to care for her, and not everybody else has that.
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