My Daughter Said, “I Wanted You”

Dear Delyara, Not “I needed help.” Not “Where were you?” Not “Can you do this?” She came into the kitchen while I was unloading groceries and said, “I wanted you,” because she had something funny to show me and something sad to tell me and neither of those things could apparently wait until the milk was in the fridge. That sentence undid me. Not because children don’t need their mothers all day. Because she still wanted me specifically, not just my function. I bent down and listened with cold yogurt in one hand and bread under my arm and felt this sharp gratitude move through me. There are still people in this house who reach for me as a person. I need to remember that on the darker nights.