2 sizes

A buddy of mine used to have the sweetest way of expressing joy mixed with a heaping spoonful of gratitude. If you said something nice, she would clutch her chest, gasp a little, roll her huge blue eyes and say, "Oh my god. My heart just grew !" It was like she could actually FEEL her heart growing. If you were lucky, she'd tell you her heart grew a size. I've always thought it was sweet. But there are some moments when it's actually the PERFECT expression of that exact emotion. Hard to describe, but you know it when you feel it. I was gifted with one of those moments yesterday.

Around lunchtime, my phone rang. It was my sister Susan. Not so strange, but she doesn't usually call in the middle of the day. "Hey, I know you're at work, but would you talk to Jack for a minute?" "Of course, what's going on?" " He's having a bad day and wanted to talk to someone from his family. I asked him if he wanted to call you and he said yes." Jack's 5 and he's amazing. He's smarter than just about anyone I know, big or small. He's funnier than most. And, he's got a big beautiful sensitive heart. Not to mention, he's also got killer ninja moves and he's got great potential as a gamer.

His laugh makes my heart dance. His sad voice makes my insides ache. When he cries, it literally hurts in my bones. When he was sad yesterday and he decided to call me for help cheering him up, I got a flash of all of those things at once. When his sad little voice got on the phone and said, "Hi, Aunt Carolyn," my heart grew two sizes.