I’ll Be Here

I'll be here!

Every day, while Mama went to work, Tinesy Girl came to stay with Gramma.

Something all of us loved.

There was much hugging and kissing as Mama prepared to go out the door in the morning.

Many ‘I love yous’.

And not a few ‘see you soons’.

Then Mama was off and we were on our own.

We had fun.

There were toys and games to play with.

Books to read.

Plays to enact.

And yummy things to eat.

But Tinesy Girl still missed her Mama.

Now one of TG’s favourite toys was a musically interactive, eminently portable activity board.

On wheels.

There were buttons and keys to push, gears to spin, doors to open and close, and a small, purple phone.

To . . . umm . . . carry around.

And which, until that day, had been MIA.

A cursory and completely fruitless search had been conducted.

And the toy written off as one of those things that ‘will just show up later’.

Our daughter was (and still is) a theatre carpenter. Arriving at work and opening her toolbox, she finally discovered TG’s little purple phone.

Tucked neatly among the hammers and drills of her Mama’s tools-of-the-trade.

Arriving home from work, our grinning daughter triumphantly held up the phone.

TG grabbed it and refused to let go.

It went into the tub with her during her bath.

And ditto when she went to sleep.

The next morning, there was the usual ritual of hugs, kisses and ‘I love yous’.

And her Mama was off for another day of noisy measuring, cutting and piecing together.

As lunchtime approached, she drug out her backpack and zipped it open.

There, on top of everything was TG’s little purple phone.

Our daughter pulled it out and stared at it.

Then she laughed.

The message was finally clear.

“Call me!”