I like hot fudge. Quite a bit actually. While I'm not a chocolate freak, hot fudge really does something for me.
But nothing like what it does for my daughter. She's 5, she is in kindergarten, and she is amazing. I don't give her the credit she deserves often. But she really is. And there is a lot she can teach me. Like hot fudge.
Life isn't all roses when you are five. You have homework, have to put up with two busy parents, a little sister who is old enough to play with now, but also young enough to make it a bit difficult at times. Friends at school who are still trying to learn how to be social, with changing allegiances on a nearly daily basis present new problems. Balancing the demands of school, friends, and completely anal retentive parents, well, it can be tough some days.
That's where the hot fudge comes in. Serve some up, give her a smile and a hug, and watch the worries melt away.
Sure, the problems are still there. But so is the fudge. And the fudge trumps all. Her smile returns, as does the spring in her step. I should learn from that. Of course my life is more complicated than hers right now. But is that simply because I think it is? I have more responsibilities, more demands on my time, more people who rely on me directly, and what I am doing right now is not only going to affect my future, but hers as well. Yet can't I still find the absolute joy in something as simple as hot fudge? Can't I let that lift me the same way it lifts her? Has my need to live a more complex life forced me to find more complex solutions? Sometimes the answer must be yes.
Sometimes, though, I need to just sit back and enjoy the hot fudge. Just like Jessica.