One Less Child

Well she’s gone again. Being a blended family has always been hard. It’s been hard on my husband. It’s been hard on me. But most of all it’s been hard on Lael.

These past 30 days is the longest we’ve ever had D consecutively. Yeah we had her the whole summer last year but she still went back to her mother every other weekend. Not this time. We had her for 30 days. No break. Lael and her were each other’s shadows. If one wore pink so did the other. If one had a snack so did the other. If one took a bath, the other was right there too. It was such a joy to watch but a little part of me was in pain for what would happen when it was time for D to go home.

Yesterday was that day. The night before Lael told one of my friends that she would cry because she always cries when D leaves. My friend told her to not cry and show her sister what a big girl she was.

It was hard for her. She hugged her sister goodbye and I scooped her up and kissed her. As I buckled her back into her car seat she bit her bottom lip. She took deep breaths. She hugged her stuffed bunny. And then she was ok. She took out her video game and started to play Sponge Bob. I climbed in the back seat with her and held her hand and played her game with her the whole way home.

We won’t get D again until August. July is going to be a long month. With one less child.