Bathside Chats

We have always known Claire has an old soul. She has a depth of understanding that is many years beyond her five. Grace is a very spirited, live-in-the-moment, take-things-as-they-are kind of gal. Whereas Claire thinks and reflects and thinks more on life around her. So, when I started having deep conversations with her, I didn’t see what was happening at first. 

I’d be helping wash her hair or brushing out her tangles or just sitting there chatting with her and we’d start talking about a heavy-ish topic. We’ve tackled race and diversity. We’ve talked through friendship and loneliness. We’ve discussed courage and being brave. We’ve covered empathy. Kindergarten was providing almost daily discussion topics for us. She’d think about what I said and ask questions. I’d ask her questions to get her thinking. And pretty soon we’d both realize I had finished brushing her hair 10 minutes ago and we were wrapped up in our conversation. 

I grew to love these bathside chats we were having — it was this moment with just Claire and I. Then the most beautiful thing happened. We were running late one night with bedtime quickly approaching and she said, “Mom, can I have a quick bath? I want to have time to have one of our talks.” 

Anytime, anywhere, sweet girl.