THE MANY FORMS OF LOVE.....

You may know a precocious little one......... one of your own, a friends, a grandchild. Here is a short piece about one whom I have the privelege of knowing.

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CLARA’S COOKIES


Little Clara loved the park. It was just down the block from her new house, a bungalow on the north side. It wasn’t a very big park, but it had swings and birdies, and that was what Clara liked. Plus, the train that brought her daddy home from work every day came right by the park. So Clara and her mommy would wait there for the big train to roll by. Then she and mommy would walk home with her daddy.

Clara was little, but she was very smart. One day when she and her daddy walked to the park, Clara didn’t want to swing. She didn’t want to watch the birdies. And she didn’t want to wait for the train. She wanted to keep walking. Her daddy was not sure just where his daughter wanted to go. He was with her today because her mommy had just had a new baby, a brother named Peter. So daddy was staying home to help out, and to take Clara to the park.
Well, Clara had her mind made up that they were going to keep walking. So daddy held her tiny hand (she was almost two years old, but she was very petite) and they continued to walk. They went to the end of the path in the park. Then they went on to the sidewalk. Then, to daddy’s surprise, they continued up the small hill and over the train tracks!

Daddy was smiling, wondering where in the world his little child in her pink coat and pink hat with the tassels and ear flaps was taking him.

Down the short hill and into the downtown area, past the newspaper stand and turning onto the main street they went.
Clara stopped, and daddy looked down. Her shoe needed to be tied. So he tied her shoe, and then they continued to walk along the downtown sidewalk.
Clara was looking into the windows of the shops as they passed them.
Finally, she stopped outside one of the shops. It was the bakery that she and her parents had taken her to before.
So this is where she wanted to go, thought an amazed daddy!
Inside the shop, as daddy bought coffee and some donuts, the gentle lady behind the counter gave Clara three cookies for free.
And just like that, Clara reached up for her daddy’s hand. Holding the precious bag of cookies, they made their way back home. Past the newspaper stand, up the small hill, over the train tracks, and through the park her little legs went with a purpose. Daddy realized then and there that here was a person who made up her mind and did something about it.

A lot like her mommy, he mused.

When they came home, and she had taken off her pink coat and pink hat with the tassels on it, Clara took her bag of cookies to her mommy.
She carefully opened the bag. Reaching in, Clara handed one to her mommy.

Then, to the surprise of both her parents, she offered the next cookie to her new baby brother, nestled in her mommy’s arms.

Petey, being only a week old, couldn’t enjoy the generous gift of his big sister. But as sure as it is that this story will be told to him many times over, that is how sure we are that love comes in many forms.

Sometimes it's just the simple sharing of a cookie.