Wednesday, April 23, 2008

For whom the dirt sparkles

T. is four-and-a-third-years old and can be very firm. Last week we were at the playground and she began scooping up dirt and rubbing it into her skin. (We go through a lot of bubble bath here.) She applied the dirt earth once, twice, then held her arm up into the sun. The light caught the silica in the earth and her skin shimmered. Despite the careful preparations, she was still delighted: “Look, daddy, it sparkles!”

Then she held my bony wrist in both her small hands. Her wrists still have hints of baby rolls and folds. She dived back into the dirt and rubbed it into the back of my hand. When she was satisfied with the coverage, she cocked her head to the side and squinted. “It doesn’t sparkle for you because you’re sick,” she declared.

My heart lurched. We hadn’t raised my hand to the sun; it wasn’t a fair trial. “No, look,” I said, “it just needs some light!” She looked directly at me. “No sparkles for Daddy.”

*

The next day, fortunately, she cured me with her purple-and-pink magic wand.

2 comments:

Sachin Palewar said...

Nice blog. I like your attitude. Its really nice to have a little one with you. I am sure your little girl gives you a lot of joy.

My wife also has ES and undergoing AIM Chemo after it met into her lungs recently. We also have a 5 month old baby girl and she brings lot of happiness in our life.

Take care..
Sachin from India.

SG said...

I'm so glad you found us, Sachin, and I'm sorry to hear about your wife. I hope she is more or less tolerating the chemo and that the tumors are responding. I'm hoping to make this blog a little more friendly for people directly dealing with this disease by tagging the more factual/scientific content. As for the baby: Children are such a great distraction during tough times. (Usually for the good, sometimes for the not-so-good!)