Dear Kitty,

By Alycia Neighbours on April 25, 2013 • ( 3 )

Dear Kitty,

Last night my 5 year old daughter hardly got any sleep. She was so excited for today and got up numerous times to ask me if it was time to go yet. At 6am I finally announced it was the day and she bounded out out of bed eagerly putting on her best outfit and even borrowed some heels from her big sister.

We had to drop her little sister off at Special School first. As we entered to get little sister into class and check her schedule, Isabella animatedly began telling her little sister’s Speech Therapist all about her grand adventure for the day. The teacher raised her eyebrows at me as Isabella happily screeched, “I get to go get my shots today!!”

Seriously.

She skipped into the pediatrician’s office and all but leapt onto the exam table. The doctor looked at me and asked “Does she know why she is here today?” Isabella giggled and confirmed, “I’m getting shots today.”

The nurse rolled in with the needle cart and Isabella pushed her sleeves way up and pointed to the spots where she could get the shots. A squinted up face and a tiny whimper was all that we heard from her as the 3 shots were delivered. Smiling broadly, she accepted the glitter band aids and declared, “Now I am ready for Kindergarten!!”

Don’t get me wrong, Isabella is no friend to pain, but she fully understood that this was a step to get where she wants to be. Vaccinations for starting school. She knew it was going to hurt and it couldn’t be avoided, but rather than focus on the pain; she had her eye on the prize.

So many times in my life I’ve gotten caught up with the pain of the moment and forget about the prize at the end. I cringe and cry before the pain has even started knowing that it is unavoidable, because this is life and sometimes life hurts. When it’s over, I could care less about sparkly band-aids, all I know is it still hurts and that wasn’t fair.

I firmly believe my home will be heaven and it is worth the pain that sometimes life brings. I need to keep my heart firmly on the prize and say “Bring it on. I’m ready and I’m strong enough to get through this because I know what my prize is. This is just a step on the way.”