To My Child (Just For Today)

Just for this morning I am going to smile when I see your face, and laugh when I feel like crying.

Just for this morning I will let you wake up softly in your flannel p.j.'s and hold you until you are ready to stir.

Just for this morning I will let you choose what you want to wear, and I will say how beautiful you are.

Just for this morning I will step over the laundry to pick you up, and take you to the park to play.

Just for this morning I will leave the dishes in the sink, and let you teach me how to put that puzzle together.

Just for this afternoon I will unplug the telephone and keep the computer off, and sit with you in the garden blowing bubbles.

Just for this afternoon I will not yell once, not even a tiny grumble when you scream and whine for the ice cream truck and I will buy you one, if he comes by.

Just for this afternoon I won't worry about what you are going to be when you grow up, or how you might have been before your diagnosis.

Just for this afternoon I will let you help me make cookies, and I won't stand over you....trying to fix things.

Just for this afternoon I will take you to McDonalds and buy us both a Happy Meal so you can have two toys.

Just for this evening I will hold you in my arms and tell you the story of how you were born and how much we love you.

Just for this evening I will let you splash in the bathtub, and I won't get angry when you pour water outside the tub.

Just for this evening I will let you stay up late while we sit on the porch swing and count all the stars.

Just for this evening I will bring you glasses of water and snuggle beside you for hours and miss my favourite TV show.

Just for this evening, when I run my fingers through your hair as I pray, I will simply be grateful that God has given me the greatest gift ever given.

I will think about the mothers who are searching for their missing children, the mothers who are visiting their children's graves instead of their bedrooms, and mothers who are in hospital rooms watching their children suffer senselessly and screaming inside that they can't handle it anymore.

And when I kiss you goodnight, I will hold you a little tighter, a little longer. It is then that I will thank God for you, and ask him for nothing.... except just one more day.