The saddest song I know is by Maurice Sendak

This song makes me cry.  (Which is hard to explain to the preschoolers who are watching the video with you.)  Pierre.  Pierre was a boy who didn't care.  The gist of the story (or the song, as I've only heard it sung by Carly Simon) is that all he could say was, "I don't care".  So things happen, but not with him.  Until they do.   For those of you who haven't read or heard the story, I'll leave the details out.  Let's just say there is a large carnivore involved.  But that's not the sad part.  (although, it SHOULD be.)  The saddest line in the song, and in the world,  really, is when his mother is calling him her darling boy, her pride and joy, and all he says is, "I don't care".   An  d kids say stuff like that all the time and we hope - and assume - they don't mean it (because I clearly do love my mother, despite how many times I shouted otherwise when I was slamming doors as a teenager).  But in the story, Pierre really doesn't care.  And that's always a possibility in life.   We hope, when we have children, that they will love us with all the furiosity with which  we love them.  But there are no guarantees.   There aren't any guarantees with anything.   

I found out this week that another friend is separating from her husband.  And  I'm still shocked.   I thought they were happy.  They looked happy from the outside.   I wonder how my family looks from the outside.  I'm thinking we might not always look so great.  I'm cranky and snapping at my husband for no good reason (how dare he shower long enough to steam the bathroom!)  I'm yelling at my kids to please, FOR THE LAST TIME, get in the car we are running LATE!  And it seems like this happens every day.  And yet...  and yet, these are the people I love the most in the world.  I can't imagine what life would be like without them.  I don't even want to try, because the possibility of a life without any of them makes me cry.   And there are no guarantees that they will be here tomorrow.  Fortunately, the odds are pretty good.   But I want to go give them all a hug.  Right now.  (which might freak my husband out, since he's at work.  Can you imagine?  You're sitting at your desk, and hello!  You're wife is here.  She comes in, gives you a hug, and then leaves.  A drive-by hugging.)  

So yeah, I'm feeling a little moody this  morning.  It's that damned Pierre.  It does it to me every time.