The Law of Gravity

I dropped Layla off in her room at school today and left to walk Cooper to his room. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a child running behind me...closer...closer. I turned to look, thinking I was going to get hit if I didn't get out of the way. When I turned, I saw the most beautiful girl, sobbing, running right towards me. It was Layla Faye and today was the day she cracked. She's been brave for weeks, no tears, but today the flood gates opened.

I held her for a few minutes, I prayed over her, then I walked her to her classroom, still crying, handed her to her teacher, and walked away. So hard, but I knew I had to do it.

When I picked her up, she was happy, but obviously tired. As we drove home she told me that Mrs. Carlson hugged her and hugged her today, Mrs. Stiefel gave her a treat of licorice to take home in her bag, and all of her class stopped and prayed for her this morning.

"Mom, it's just been hard being brave for my friends. Today, I just had to cry. When everyone prayed for me, I felt warm inside, but I still missed you," Layla told me.

Several quiet minutes passed.

"Mom? There are some questions I have about the law of gravity."

Uhm...OK

"What exactly is the law of gravity?"

Uhm....my brain is scrambling now...F=G something...and something with a gravitational constant..uhm...I think there were some m's in there...(sad I know, but please don't judge me. Not only don't I remember the scientific explanation, I'm completely perplexed as to why my 6 year old is asking me such things!)

"What goes up must come down," I stated, completely unsure of my ability to explain this to her.

More silence...I can tell Layla is processing.

"Kind of like me," she answered. "I've been up, but today I'm down."

And with that, tears came to my eyes for the second time today.