Mother

Lyla showed her mom the drawings she and her friends at the daycare had made that day, one of them on the swings, one on the slide and two on the seesaw. Elizabeth asked ” which one are you on?” ” am playing with ben on the seesaw!!!” Lyla said jumping around giddily. Elizabeth was pleased that her daughter was able to make new friends and adjust comfortably surprisingly quick as they had moved to the new place just five months ago. It was hard for Lyla to make friends at their old place and as a child she did not open up to people much, Elizabeth was relieved that finally her daughter was able to mix with kids her age and did not have to worry constantly.

Being a single mother was hard but, for Elizabeth her daughter was her priority. She wanted to give her the best education and a better childhood than hers, a place where both of them can live comfortably and her daughter can grow up happy. Elizabeth was juggling two jobs so that she can save enough money to send Lyla to a private school the next academic year, but having two jobs meant she hardly ever got to see her daughter and spent time with her. she kept on telling herself that everything would work out in the longer run and just needed to work hard for her daughter. 

The weekends were the only time they got to spend time with each other properly. During that time Lyla used to tell all kinds of stories from the daycare and how much she was learning there, Elizabeth read her stories and let Lyla help with cooking food, they spent the whole time engaging in fun mother-daughter activities and for Elizabeth it felt like them doing all kinds of activities together was her way of making up for the time she was missing with her daughter during the weekdays. She was satisfied with the fact that Lyla was able to adapt quick.

Elizabeth dropped Lyla off everyday at the daycare and picked her up every evening. One fine Monday she decided to accompany Lyla to the playground to meet her friends whom she hadn’t met before because usually she is always in a hurry to drop her off. At the playground Elizabeth asked where her friends were sitting, “They’re all there” Lyla said pointing to an empty corner of the field.