A Prophetic Magnet

Toby is February 1^st.  It’s a school day.  Remembering the heartache that occurred in November with the dramatic grief over the sudden loss of October, I spent the 20-minute car ride to school today preparing Toby for the inevitable loss of January and new month of February.

Apparently Toby has matured since the botched Oct-Nov transition.

“Yeah, I KNOW that, Mommy,” he said with a remarkably accurate teenage-accent, “Today is Feb 1^st and it’s a NEW month and it starts with the letter F.”

He then gave me a rundown of whose birthdays were in the month of February, what special events were planned, and what they were going to cover this month in the kindergarten curriculum.

Relieved that the dreaded “month-transition” conversation had gone smoothly I smiled with a contented sigh and jinxed myself by anticipating a quiet, tantrum free ride to daycare. 

Toby, however, took this moment of silence as an opportunity for further contemplation. 

“Mommy…why don’t any of the months start with the letter T for Toby?”

I could tell by the escalation in his voice that this question was going nowhere good.

“Well, Toby, there just aren’t” I naively hoped would help.

It didn’t.

“But Mommy APRIL starts with an A for YOUR name.   And MARCH starts with M for Mia.  I don’t get ANY months that start with the letter T and that’s NOT FAIR!!!”

Those of you who don’t have kids are probably rolling your eyes.  Those of you who DO have kids are probably rolling your eyes and smiling as you think of a similarly irrational conversation you have had with one of your own kids. 

And then I had a moment of brilliance.

“Toby” I said with a voice I used to describe the wonders of Santa Clause ”There may not be a MONTH that stars with the letter T but do you know what letter the word TODAY starts with?”

Toby sounded it out in his head before skeptically answering, “….T…?”

“Yes” I said, “So if TODAY starts with the letter T that means that EVERY day is named after you.”

“Wow…” he said with such earnest wonder I actually, for a moment of time, poured all of the gratitude in my heart into the single fact that sometime, somewhere, someone had decided to name the word TODAY with the Letter T and that I had had the brilliance to name my first born son a name that started with the very same letter.

That’s right.  I had a moment where there was nothing in the world I was more thankful for.

I admit this to you, honestly and unashamedly.  A few hours later I was back to thinking things that normal people think – like what the weather would be like for my parents’ drive up this weekend, what I was going to cook for dinner and what I needed to get at the grocery store that day.

But for a brief time there today I had pure unadulterated thankfulness for the letter T.

My mom just bought me a magnet that says, “I had a mind once.  Now I have small children.” It is on days like today that I couldn’t agree more…