Miss you!

My second daughter is away on a summer camp, and I sense the emptiness the younger ones can create in our lives. It is as if the second ones are born for the sole purpose of their parents’ entertainment. They can come in many flavors-  quiet, funny, naughty, kind, stubborn, yet they all seem to fit the description of the ones that fill up your life with their ever-present charm. As for my younger one, she is an omnipresent gentle breeze, a face of sanity in moments of craziness, an embodiment of love!

From what I have observed amongst my friends and family, the younger ones seem to have it all easy, they become the constant tattle tellers, the tantrum throwers, the ‘my-way or the highway’ kinds, the happy-go-lucky, the ever-pampered souls and above all, the super-spies who constantly have their special antennas up for their older siblings’ acts. Your older one tries to be her real self, and lo comes the  sly little reporter with a mini crime report on the ‘big bad bossy one’, until mom starts her yelling routine! They get to skip a shower, coochy-coo on mom’s lap, sleep with their feet dirty, sneak in the pantry for a forbidden treat. And the list goes on……….They have that immense potential to make the parents feel that life would have been drab, if not for them.

I feel something missing when I am not anymore woken up early morning from my younger one’s kisses all over my sleepy face. The quietest sweetest baby girl, who barely had tantrums, full of shyness and deep care is already an independent, strong-willed, fun-loving, still caring teenager. Today, I miss her bed head, her hour long morning chat sometimes about her dreams the previous night, sometimes school and friends, sometimes about her future family plans! I miss my shopping buddy, my wardrobe planner, my chores helper and my partner counselor .

I don’t see today my little one who fills up the house, who scurries from her dad one moment, to her mom the next and then her older sister for a quick rendezvous or an elaborate chit-chat depending on the mood. As much as she is the calm and quiet one outside the house, she is the chatter-box, the crazy comedian and the one always-in-action in our household. Though she has been in my life for the least number of years, it is from her I have received the most number of hugs and kisses! There is no dearth of love when she is around. And I am sure, once she is back from camp, I would grab my share of hugs and kisses that I right now yearn !!