HANGNAILS

And finally...

So, now that we're all on the same page, and I've probably unearthed some horrifically painful childhood trauma in a few of us, allow me share a story. 

in the McGuire household. Mama's already at work, Daddy's looking for something to eat, and Adley's in her room with Nana helping her get ready for the first day of PreK 4.

I grab a bite to eat and a water from the fridge and make my way toward Adley's room cause the time to leave was near. My silent prayer as I walk through the dark house: "Please let this child at least look at me when I try to take her first day of school picture. I'm not even asking for a smile, just a glance quick enough to capture her face. I just want to show her mama how cute she is. So yeah, just a glimpse at the camera, Cool?" Not seconds later, that silent prayer was interrupted by a little girl's scream accompanied by those big crocodile tears.  
Now don't get me wrong. Ad's not an overly-dramatic kiddo (praying it stays that way), but a quick assessment of the situation revealed why she all of a sudden was dealing with two very real things: Pain and fear! What was the culprit, you might ask? A little ole hangnail on one of her little ole toes.

The next few moments were a blur, and I came to a few realizations right then and there:

• My kid's pretty dang stout.  
• Four year olds can be pretty dang scrappy. 
• Men, we REALLY do need my our spouses...cause there's just something special about that mama's touch.
• Fear will keep you paralyzed.

While all of those are true, I want to camp out for a minute on that last one...

Fear has a way of sinking its teeth into our very cores. Even the biggest and toughest among us, whether they want to admit it or not, are afraid of something.

Many times, those fears are born out of experience. An adult who has fears of dogs very well could have been mauled as a kid. A fear of being alone can find its roots in previous abandonment.

Sometimes, the fear can be simply because we know what that thing we fear is capable of. For me, it's spiders. You want to see me run away faster than the speed of light? Let me see a spider. Don't even care what kind. Big one, small one... irrelevant. You probably don't have to think hard to determine what that "spider" is in your life.

It's wild to sit back and watch your kid growing and learning, finding their way, navigating through their little lives. Sometimes they seem fearless, then sometimes, not so much. And when you least expect it, they're a mirror that exposes things in you that you didn't even realize.

In the moments surrounding our morning adventures with a lil ole hangnail, my little girl began to learn a few things about fear, and specifically the one thing she was fearing. No, it wasn't a hangnail at all, it was what that hangnail caused...PAIN. And truth be told, pain is something you and me both sometimes don't even realize we're fearing.

Pain and fear

For Adley, her growing brain could only process what she was feeling. Pain. And guess what, pain hurts. There's not one thing I could to to make that reality for her any less real. Even the smallest of hangnails, like you and me both know, can cause some pretty legit pain.

Same is true for pain that's not necessarily caused by physical ailments. Emotional pain is just as real, and in it's own way, hurts just as bad, however, when compared to physical pain, we have a harder time time admitting that we're actually feeling it.

Fear isn't necessarily a negative emotion. 

The thought of taking care of that hangnail was incomprehensible to Adley. She knew it hurt without even touching it, so to her, touching it would only make it worse. Here's the thing...she was RIGHT...

Type your new text here.

Type your new text here.

Type your new text here.