Happy Mother's Day

Henry came in the house with his fat, dirty little fist crinkling up a single yellow pansy that he'd picked from the neighbor's flower bed. He was saying, "Mama, mama," as he came through the door, and when I answered, "Oh, Henry, did you pick a flower?" he got the brightest smile on his face and started a new chant: "Wah-ter, wah-ter." That's a pretty new word to him, and I couldn't believe he's already figured out that flowers need it. We were headed out the door so I quickly grabbed a plastic cup, put a little water in it, stuck the flower in, and said, "OK, let's go now." But Henry was standing there, looking up at the flower on the counter, his hands behind his back, rocking back and forth and just beaming that I had put his flower in the water, like it was the most beautiful thing in the world. Later when we came home, I noticed his "Wah-ter" had perked the flower up. I thought about his little boy happiness over that one little flower, and it seemed like the most beautiful thing in the world to me, too.