The Space Between XIII

I laid my suitcase on my bed and had almost every last stitch of summer clothing and cute shoe I owned in a pile beside it.  I had a week in NY followed by five days in Montreal; Karen and my daughter would be meeting me in Montreal the afternoon I arrived.  She came around the corner with her thumb in her mouth and blanket over her head and I could see the sleepiness in her eyes but she was giving it a good fight.  "Mama can I help?"  Basically she will play dress up with my shoes for half an hour while I have several small heart attacks watching her roll her ankles every which way and try not to break anything. "Of course love, climb on the bed".  I sat on the edge of my bed and watched her play for a bit while I organized some of my books and sent off some last emails before I left in the morning.  My son was already in Montreal and I was looking forward to not just seeing him but having my children together.  It was tough when this opportunity came about for him because I want and need my children to be close and it was going to be a challenge because of the distance and I was already fighting a huge age gap.  I looked over to see her sitting in my suitcase trying to zip up shoes that didn't need to be unzipped to fit on her foot...she makes me laugh every day.  After trying on every pair of heels in the pile she picked her blanket back up and came over to sit on my lap; I kissed her nose and picked her up...I promised to watch one episode of Curious George before I put her to sleep.