My Darling Little One, You Carried Me

A hardened and disciplined man drove to the grocery store lost in thought, with setting of sun, the long day's work almost found it's end. Hoisting his daughter to shoulder, he walked from the parking lot, and barely noticed her hair smelled of shampoo and pool chlorine blend. He searched for fresh loaf of bread, and pound of peaches, careful to tally up each purchase with well-honed skill. With family's dinner waiting, and worn wallet short on wages, thinking, that tank of gas will have to wait, and hoped it will. Looking up from the myriad of baby food jars in the next aisle, slowly he became aware, as a dense fog clears on a whim. Now noticed a woman with mouth played in a strange smile, her instinctive gaze fixed on something behind him. He turned to see what elicited her quizzical beam, and his heart melted at the sight in the shopping cart. A straw haired helper, fast asleep, slumped over in a girl's charmed dream, her little head now resting against his arm. The day's worries quickly fled, tough exterior, now stripped senseless, life's hard lesson and true measure of a man's love now shown. Left wondering how a resting child could leave one so defenseless, and that, which a man holds important..,could be so wrong. Epilogue I live the rest of my days wiser and more carefree. For my darling little one, it wasn't I that carried you, but you that carried me.