For those of you who need a translation, here's what it says: "Once there was a eagle. She had a mother. Her mother had to work all day but sometimes she can be home and have hot chocolate. Their father can be home every day so eagle can be safe."

Do you think this child had an issue with her mother working so hard and leaving her?

Obviously she did. But the funny thing is that when Katie was 6 I was homeschooling her. Just like I do today. She saw me 24/7 all the time, except when I was out on a speaking engagement (I do a lot of women's retreats, women's rallies, and other events). I think this particular one was when I had flown down to Dallas for three days to do a TV show to promote To Love, Honor and Vacuum.

Anyway, Keith, my husband, is a doctor. He's on call a lot, and quite often we don't see him for 24 hours at a time. Last night he was called in at 2 a.m., poor man, and I haven't seen him since. So he was hardly ever home.

But that's not what Katie wrote about, because to her, I had abandoned her by going to Dallas for three days.

I'm going to keep this in a very safe place. I'm not allergic to this; I think it's hilarious. And Katie likes it, too. It's fun looking back over your kids when they were younger. I only wish I could go back, even just for 15 minutes, and hug them when they were that size again.

Oh, well. I'll have to wait for grandchildren, I guess!

Labels: homeschooling, parenting, speaking