HeartBreak

Just before lunch today, I nursed Bump and laid him down for his nap and went out into the kitchen to begin preparing something to eat. Then, I looked up the stairs and saw a SIGHT.

My Branch had a backpack stuffed full on one shoulder with a travel pillow wedged between her body and the bag, another bag with a teddy bear head and the tails of a bathrobe sticking out, tears rolling down her face and a piece of paper in her hand.

I said, "What are you doing?"

She replied with more tears and walked down the stairs and handed me the paper...

I asked her where she was going and she told me that she wasn't sure, but she couldn't stay here any longer. I pulled her onto my lap and asked her why she couldn't stay. She said, "There isn't any love here for me."

WHAT?!?!! My girl, the one who was poured into a mold that I thought I had cracked? My GIRL. MY girl. Not enough love for her?

I asked her what her plan was. She wasn't sure. I asked her where she would go. She said to some other house that had some extra love. I asked her how she would buy food. She said her piggy bank was packed in her backpack. I asked what else she had packed for her journey. She had a pair of jammies, a piggy bank, a lip gloss and a smell good spray, her teddy bear and a pillow... OH and a bath robe. She might have added a book or two as well. Blossom asked if she packed an extra pair of panties... Just in case, you know. No, she had not packed any extra panties and she had not packed any other clothes to wear. She planned to re-wear the clothes that she had on. So, she was ready to leave. Then I asked why she felt that there wasn't enough love and she told me that Blossom and Bud were too mean to her, there weren't enough bedrooms so that she could be alone in one and she NEEDED her own space because Blossom wouldn't leave her alone in quiet. Bud and Blossom by this time were quite concerned that Branch was leaving and were trying to convince her that they would miss her and that it is really just too scary to leave mom and have a go on your own.

I asked if she wanted to stay for lunch before she left. She did. She wanted tuna salad with crackers and cheese. And a movie. Max and Ruby to be exact. And now she is curled up in a club chair reading Berenstain Bears and the Dress Code and we will be leaving to go to her Little Flowers Girls' Club meeting in about 10 minutes. I hope that she has decided to stay with mom!