The Innocence of a Child

I was at my mother-in-law's house on Monday helping her with a few household things and we got to talking about the economy and how rough it has been on so many of us. She was very sweet and kindly offered to let us live with her if we ever had need to. I don't foresee that in the future, but it's always nice to know you have loved ones who will help you out during those inevitable crunch times.

The drive home left me with a lot of thoughts and I considered how our lives would change if we ended up needing to stay with Grandma for a few months. When the kids got home from school, I asked Allison what she thought about moving in with Grandma Bean. Immediately I heard Gavin holler from the other room, "No Way!" (He has no problem with Grandma, just the thought of living anywhere other than here). I asked Alli again what her thoughts were. She sat there for a minutes and then asked me if she would get her own room. I assured she would have the middle room upstairs. She mentioned it might be too small to fit all of her stuff in it, but she continued to ponder. She considered, "Grandma might need a lot of help. She will need me to take her groceries upstairs for her and I might even miss some of my school". I asked her what her final thought on the matter was and her response came through a very solemn and concerned face, "Sure, mom. I can move to Grandma's, but I would miss you guys SOOO much! (on the verge of tears) Do you promise that you'll come and visit me everyday?"

I was so shocked by her reaction...I quickly went through the conversation to see where the misunderstanding had come in. Then I looked over at her sweet and willing face, gave her a big hug and promised her that I meant we would all move together and not to worry because we weren't going anywhere.