Now they understand.
Now both my surviving children, my son and my daughter, understand how much I love them.
They knew, as well as a child can know, that I loved them. But they didn’t fully understand it until they experienced it for themselves.
My son has understood for a while now. He has two children of his own, a little son and daughter of his own to love. He knows. He understands.
I saw it in his eyes when I saw him hold his babies. I saw that understanding in him again today when he held their little hands while walking down the hospital corridor on the way to visit their aunt and new baby cousin.
I saw the understanding in my daughter’s face yesterday while she held her own little daughter for the first time. She loved that baby girl before she was born, and she loved her even more yesterday after she was born.
Today she loved her more than yesterday. She didn’t know that was possible.
Tomorrow she will love her even more. And the next day, and the next.
I knew my daughter understood that this morning when she looked at me over the tiny, wrapped- tighter-than-a-burrito bundle she was holding
After just 24 hours in this world this little girl has a mother who would readily do anything to insure her safety and well-being. My daughter has acquired the impulse that would make parents step in front of a train, that would make them catch a grenade, that would make them do anything for their child. That impulse will grow stronger every day.
You can never understand exactly how much your own mother loves you until you have your own child. You can guess how much she does, you can even “know in your heart”, but you can’t understand until you feel it for yourself.
I didn’t understand it until I had children of my own. The birth and growth of each of my own three children helped me understand just how much my own mother loved me and my brother and sisters.
I feel confident that my other son understands it too. Knowing God’s love for us has to be like knowing your mother’s love. It’s one and the same thing.
It’s a love that surpasses all understanding.
I love you more today than yesterday, but a little less than tomorrow.
