I truly love to hear stories from moms (or dads) about how their kids have, unbeknownst to the child, made a huge impact on their lives as parents. I have been very blessed (and continue to be) by the impact that my almost 10 year old, Jayla, has made on my life. My oldest, Briyanna, has made her share of impacts on me too. And now that she's older and a grown up, she's impacting me even more and more positively everyday. I'm so proud of Briyanna and how she's finding her way around "life" as an adult.
Those of you who have known me for quite some time have probably heard the following story about Jayla before. But as I mentioned, I was reading that beautiful mushy post today. And it just made me want to share this story again.
If you've already heard about this, and don't care to hear it again. This would be a good place to stop reading :-). However, I hope you don't because it's really sweet.
One day when Jayla was about 4, she and I were out running errands. She was strapped in her carseat in the back seat of our van. Her little chin propped up on the arm of her carseat as she just gazed out the window in silence.
Without warning, she blurts out, "Mom, I'm so glad you're my mommy!" To which I smiled and responded, "Aww, Jayla, I'm glad I'm your mommy too!" Still looking out the window, she tells me how she remembers seeing me driving to work one day before she was "sent to me". I asked her what she meant. She told me, "I showed you to God and told Him that I wanted YOU to be my mommy."
I then asked her how she knew me. To which she responded, "I told you! I showed you to God and told Him that I wanted you to be my mommy. But he made me wait for SOOO long to come see you!"
As I continued to drive, trying not to have a wreck from the shock, I asked Jayla what she was talking about. I asked, "How did you see me?" Without missing a beat (and rolling her eyes as if she couldn't believe I was asking such a dumb question), she said, "I saw you driving your black truck to work. And you were fussing about being in traffic again!" :-) So I asked her, "What black truck?" About this time, a Honda Passport drives past us. Jayla sits up quickly and says, "It was like THAT ONE, mommy! But it was black. Not a long truck".
I look at the truck passing by us and about burst into tears. Jayla then says to me, "Mommy, why do you think God made me wait SO long to come see you?" I told her I wasn't sure. But that God has His reasons for doing what He does (or doesn't do). Surprisingly enough, that answer was good enough for her. Because, as she turned back to look out the window again, she says, "Well, I'm glad He sent me here. Cuz I love me summa you!" :-)
This story still makes me a little misty. Although it may not seem like much when you first read it. The story behind the story is what makes it so special.
~First of all, me and Mister M. tried for 11 L.O.N.G. years to get pregnant. But being a 4 year old little girl, Jayla really had no concept of how LONG that really is. She just knew that God made her wait a LONG time to come to us.
~We found out we were pregnant with Jayla in March 2001. And in April of 2001, we traded our BLACK Rodeo SUV (which is the Isuzu version of the Honda Passport) for a Chevy Tahoe. Jayla had NEVER seen the Rodeo!
~She's probably right about the fussing about traffic part :-). I use drive 33 miles one way to work everyday! :-(
To this day, Jayla still tells me how happy she is that I'm her mom. But she has NO idea how glad I am that she's my daughter...my blessing the the 2nd power...my little angel.
