Just Call Me Horton

Dr. Seuss has always had that magical quality to me. I remember as a small child reading and re-reading many of his books. Imagining a snow day filled with strangers, no parents, and a machine that cleaned up after me, or being in a band that was pulled by zebras. Some years, on the Docs birthday, my mom made us green eggs for breakfast as we wished him happiness.
In high school he was still cool! We studied his political views and hidden messages in books like Yertle the Turtle.
Then I cried when my patents gifted me Oh the Places You'll Go, as I ventured out into the world as a young adult.
And then last night, as a mom, the magic returned.

I had piled all the Dr. Seuss books a few weeks ago as we made our way through them in celebration of his recent birthday. Well Laila had found a certain love for Horton Hatches the Egg. So we have been reading that a lot lately.

Side Note: Have any of you other foster/adoptive moms noticed this recurring theme in your home... My kids are inextricably drawn to movies, characters, and stories that somehow reflect the pain of their own stories. Despicable Me, Kung Fu Panda, Lilo and Stitch, Etc. Although they haven't said, "Look he was an orphan and adopted like me!", or made some other verbal declaration stating that they see similarities in their stories, it is undeniably true in our home.

For those of you who don't know the premise of Horton Hatches the Egg, it is about an elephant, Horton, who is asked to sit on a birds egg while she goes off "for a rest". She promises to return shortly but does not. So Horton stays sitting on the egg for nearly a year, through many trials and tribulations. At the end of the book the bird magically appears as the egg begins to hatch. And of course, she wants her baby back. Well as the egg hatches everyone can see that the baby bird has become an elephant bird, and claims Horton as it's parent.

Well as we got to this page of the story Laila pointed to the mom bird Mayzie and said, "That is (insert her biological mothers name here). See she looks so angry."
I of course thought I had misheard... "What Laila?"
She the proceeded to gracefully repeat herself, but this time she went on. "Look mama, that's you!" pointing to Horton,
"And the baby is me! See how happy I am because you take such good care of me?!"


And once again the magic of Dr. Seuss filled my heart.
As Laila and I began the first, of what I hope is a life time full of discussions about her story, about what she's been through, even before her egg hatched, and how Papa God has taken care of her and brought her to us.

Because you see, lately we have been working with a team of therapists and experts to help us with the uphill road that lies ahead of us with Laila. And this mama's heart has felt a bit overwhelmed, heavy, and insufficient. But then the Doc said this..

"MY WORD! It's something brand new!
IT'S AN ELEPHANT BIRD!!
And it should be, it should be, it SHOULD be like that!
Because Horton was faithful! He sat and he sat! He meant what he said, and he said what he meant...
And they sent them home happy, one hundred percent!

So here is to all of us Horton Mamas out there... It SHOULD be like that!





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