Disappointment

I have had disappointment in my life. Times when I thought I deserved something and I didn't get it, times when I worked hard for something and it didn't happen. Why is disappointment so much harder to take when it happens to your children?

Abby ran for School Council this week. She worked so hard on her poster and her speech and in the end another boy and girl were chosen from her class instead of her. Only the three of them ran for office and she was left feeling that no one liked her. She said through her tears that even her best friend in her class voted for another girl and she didn't understand why they didn't like her. She said, "Momma, my speech was so good, it was better than anyone else's because you helped me work on it." I couldn't make it better and I couldn't fix it. I could only hold her while she cried and reassure her of my love.

Several hours later she has seemed to recover from her disappointment. Youth is resilient. And yet my heart still aches over this, her first major disappointment that I couldn't do anything about.



Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. –Elizabeth Stone