Tender Expressions Of Love

They are a part of all our lives....not always noted by us....not always recognized for what they are.

Up until the point when my father died with cancer, I had worked in offices all my life. It wasn't work that was dear to my heart, but I was good at it and it paid the bills.

I couldn't go through the motions any longer after my father passed away. I couldn't separate myself from the pain that was going on inside me - the grief was too fresh - the anger too raw.

The only job that appealed to me at the time was one for a nanny for a young professional couple with two little boys - one aged 3 and the other 6 months.

I went to meet the family and knew as soon as I walked in that it was the right place for me. A very gentle man stood in the kitchen, holding the baby in his arms while warming a bottle for him. The mother sat in the living room, reading to the older boy.

Knowing that I always heal best in the presence of children, I accepted the new found line of work. I was with them until the baby started school, at which time my husband wanted to move back to his home place a hundred miles away.

During that time, I gave and received many tender expressions of love. One of my favorites was from the older boy when he was about five years old. I was making spaghetti sauce and, as usual, it bubbled up and splattered the front of my top.

Peter said, "You should wear my mother's apron. I looked at his mother's beautiful full-length apron hanging on a nearby hook. It didn't look like it had ever been worn. "No," I said. "It would get all dirty."

"But, Rose, that's what aprons are for," he said, gently sliding the apron over my head.

"Do what you can with what you have where you are." -Theodore Roosevelt quote