Today’s poem is another one aimed at young readers, but I was surprised by the emotional impact it had for me.

I can honestly say it wasn’t the poem’s fault that I cried.  And yet, in some way, it was.  Once again, this is a book of poems for preschool aged readers but it isn’t afraid of including true emotional resonance.  I love that about this collection!

You see, the poem I will share today reminded me of my dad.  Even though we were poor growing up, even though there were four kids in my family (and a variety of animals) stampeding through the house on a regular basis, my dad would find the time to take each one of us out for breakfast for solo time with him.  It wasn’t on a regular basis (I can only remember doing this a few times in my life with him), but it was even more precious when it happened because of its rarity.  Because we didn’t have money to do it AND he didn’t have time to do it either.  He was a bit of a workaholic (to be honest), and time alone with him was as rare as finding my favorite bits of dark blue sea glass on the beach.  To make it even more precious, it was almost always on a school morning when we knew (because he prized education very highly and was very serious with us about it), that we couldn’t be late.

This is the poem that hit me in the feels because it reminded me of those rare times I got to see him and talk to him alone.  And I knew that (because of recently losing him) I’d never be able to have those times again.  And yet, with poems like this, I can remember: