i wanna be more like her

After watching the news every night since hurricane Katrina hit and feeling helpless, we finally went through our closets and packed up several boxes of stuff to donate. We took it to a woman's house who has a Mommy group that decided to send an email around to other moms encouraging them to send children's clothes to the smallest victims of this tragedy. It is rough watching the suffering of these people, but as a mother, it is more than I can take when I see a naked, dehydrated baby who won't wake up in his mother's arms. I went through my kids clothes and toy boxes and even found two boxes of maternity clothes up on a shelf to donate. This was hard for me because I am a pack rat. Having grown up with very litte I tend to hang onto the silliest stuff. Clothes that are outdated, stained, don't fit... because I might need them as a costume in a show that has yet to be written or my kids might want to play dress up in them. But if there is one thing that would force me to come to terms with years of hording, this is it.

Lastly, I opened my daughter's toy chest. It is filled with stuffed animals that she has never named, cuddled, or even acknowledged. Fearing that she might share my fear of letting go of material objects, I tried to bag these up in secret. As I was putting the plushy pink puppy into the bag my daughter came in and asked what I was doing.

"Well," I paused. Do I tell her the truth? And how much truth can an almost 3 year old handle? "I am going to give some of your toys to boys and girls who don't have any toys."

"They don't have any toys?" she asked with genuine concern.

"No, sweetie, they don't. And they don't have any clothes either, so I am going to give them some of your old clothes."

"Some of my clothes?" She looked at me with her eyebrows down. I couldn't tell if she was disaproving, or confused.

"You see... ahh" here we go, "there was a big storm, and lots of boys and girls lost there homes. The storm blew them away and that's why they need clothes and toys. Do you want to give them some of yours?"

She nodded yes, and I put the puppy in the bag. She then did something that brought real tears to my eyes. She walked over to her bed, picked up her beloved piglet she has had since birth and handed it to me.

"The boys and girls can have Piglet. They're gonna love it!"

"That is so sweet of you to want to give that to the boys and girls." I said, choking back the tears.

"And I want to build a new house for them, too, Mommy. They don't have a house and they need me to build them one."

"That's right, honey. They do need a new house."

I finished packing up the bag with toys I thought she wouldn't miss and she didn't flinch. Maybe she does get it. It's simple, they need something, we have it to give.

After she went to bed, I finished off my closet and tried to be more like her. I gave things I never thought I would part with and I didn't look back. As for Piglet, he is back on her bed tonight with his pals from the Hundred Acre Wood, watching her dream.