Letters to Maddie: Chapter 41 (Lucky Girl)

 Dearest Maddie,

you guys know who's who
in this pic, right?

Your mother and i have been waiting for you for probably around two years. But someone else has been waiting for you all her life. Although she probably only knew it when she was three. You might know this person. Her name is Margaret. "Marge" to most, "Achie" to you.

As i write this, you are all of ten months old. Your achie is five and a half. Your mother and i are to meet at a neighborhood mall to exchange a piece of merchandise we bought a couple of nights ago, and have a quick dinner in the process.

I'm coming from the office, while your mother is coming from the house. She was supposed to drag

Marge with her so she and i can spend some time together before i ride up tonight. You couldn't come because you were still nursing a cold.

Your sister didn't want to come because she'd rather stay home with you.

Back when she was all by her lonesome she'd object to not being brought along virtually anywhere. And whenever your mother and i are about to walk out through any door, she'd say "me sama," and proceed to tail us.

All that changed when you arrived, and while we sometimes miss having your Achie around when your mother and i go out, we could not be happier about this devotion we see on her part.

Some day in the future, you and your sister will squabble over big and little things. Sometimes, she'll piss you off or make you mad or whatever. Like how sometimes she wont lend you her toys, or when she'll borrow your favorite shoes without asking, or you aren't happy because she has a bigger house than you, or whatever. Sometimes, she won't see things the way you do, even if sometimes you could be right. And when those times happen (and believe me, they will), keep it in your heart and mind that none of them matter because before anything at all, the love between you is pure and began the moment your Achie was told you were already quietly growing in your mother's belly.

Always remember how when you could barely crawl, you had a guardian angel to whom you were the world. Someone whose greatest joy shifted from following me and your mom everywhere to staying behind to watch over you. And she was only all of five and half years old then.

You're a really lucky girl to have such a sister. Never forget that.

And yes, she knows how lucky she is to have you, too.

Love,

Dad