This One's For You, Dear Cousin

Well, it's official, I have a ball and glittering chain.  No longer can I claim single parenting, I'm going to be a wife.

He asked Wednesday night.

This has prompted a wide range of emotions from Lou who can't decide just exactly how excited or how upset she should be.  Amid the frenzied excitement surrounding an upcoming wedding, Lou's found many things to worry about:

1.  After I get married I won't be her mother anymore.

2.  Other Half and I will go live together- without her.

3.  She DOES NOT want to change her name.

This recent development in events isn't entirely unexpected and we've been talking about it with Lou for a while now.  We've made it clear to her that being married won't change a thing about our family.  All it does is tell the world that we are, and always will be, a family.

We have daily talks about family, usually ours, but her concept of family is still new and developing, and up until just over a year ago, our family was me and her.  She accepted my Other Half right away, just as he accepted her, but the newness wore off after a while and she wasn't too sure she wanted to share me.  She and I have talked about how, by loving Dad, I don't love her any less.  Instead of splitting my love I got more.  And then, I got even more because I love our family too.  So I have love for her, love for Dad, love for our family, and then some extra love for the Collection.

Lou had a momentary meltdown when she was seized by the idea that Dad and I were going to get married and then go live together, without her, maybe in the woods or something.  And since I can't tell her how completely absurd the idea of me living in the woods really is, we calmly reiterated the family concept and stressed that marriage changes nothing about our family. 

But maybe we've been stressing this love for everyone always and forever a bit too much.  Stability is key, and I want her to know that I'll always love her, but love doesn't mean I can take care of it all.

We have a rule that if you don't attempt to eat your dinner at dinnertime then it becomes your snack before bed.  No ice cream, no animal crackers, none of the good stuff unless you eat dinner.  And, standard for a Saturday, Lou didn't even touch her plate at dinner.  So, naturally, it was brought back at story time which prompted the following: 

Lou: Mom, I love you.

Me: I love you too.

Lou: We'll ALWAYS live together, right? And we'll ALWAYS be family?  And we'll ALWAYS love each other?

Me:  ABSOLUTELY!  You are, and always will be, my baby girl and I will love you forever!

Lou: Good.
Then can you eat some of these leftovers for me?  Cuz that's what family does, they share leftovers.

Nice try. 

But, like I said, family's a new and developing concept and why not see what you can get away with.