Yesterday my mom (Mommy) took me (Momma) and Little Man to the local outlet mall to shop for my (recently departed) birthday.

Of course she went crazy buying for the Little Man. He came home with a stack of books half his height and ten onesies. Granted, the onesies were half-price at the outlet store, but still…

I came home with new clothes befitting my newly-appointed not-working-outside-the-home status. Yay!

So at one point, we decide to stop for a snack. We buy a major cookie and some drinks and sit on a bench in the shade people watching. We alternately break of bits of cookie for us and feed sweet potato puffs to the kid.

Well. It comes down to one bite of delicious cookie. I say, “Mom, do you want the last bite?”

She says, “No, honey, you can have it.”

And then…the moment.

The moment I think I’ve truly been waiting for since January 12.

I realize that if Little Man wanted the last bite of the cookie, I would give it to him.

Now…not a big deal, I hear some of you saying.

But…I realized at that moment not just how much I love Little Man, but how much my Mommy loves me. Obviously I’ve known she loves me. But she loves me enough to give me the last bite of an incredible cookie.

And I love Little Man that much.

I love him enough to give him the last bite of cookie.

(which, btw, is huge, because I love cookies more than any other sweet treat on earth. i wanted cookies at our wedding, but settled for cupcakes. at birthdays, i prefer cookies over cake. if i’m at an event, and there are dessert choices, i always go for cookies. i love cookies. love them).

I wasn’t waiting to discover that, per se. I was waiting to discover that “you never know how much your parents love you until you become a parent” moment.

And I did.

My mom loves me like I love Little Man.

That’s incredible. And humbling. And gives me something to strive for.

I want Little Man to have that moment some day…I want him to realize how much I love him.

I just hope it doesn’t take him 35 years to get there 🙂

PS
On a totally unrelated note…my hubby is watching “Back at the Barnyard” as Saturday AM cartoons while Little Man happily crawls around and plays with his toys. I think the writers of this show must get high before penning their episodes…hilarious!!!!