Wemberly Worried

Tonight we were on the way back from my parents house, Ali had fallen asleep and I turned up the radio to unwind. Emma, though, REALLY needed to talk. I turned down the radio (a bit grudgingly) to see what was on her mind. Emma was worried. Her and my little brother, Matt, had gotten into a squabble over a toy before we left. Emma was worried that Matt was sad. She kept having me call Grandma, so Grandma could pass on the message to Matt, that Emma was VERY sorry and would bring Matt one of her favorite toys (Shilo, a white horse with a pink mane) next time we come. No matter how much we talked about it, Emma kept stressing that she was worried, very worried, about Matt. I just wasn't getting it. Emma then let out a big ol' sigh and then the following conversation occurred,

Emma, "I'm like the mouse, mom."

me, "What mouse?"

Emma, "You know, the worrying mouse."

me, "Huh?"

Emma, "You know, the mouse who worried about everything, we are the same, we both worry about EVERYTHING."

Ah yes. Wemberly. Wemberly is from a library book we checked out a few weeks ago called Wemberly Worries. It is of course about a little mouse who worries about everything, big things, little things, and things in between. First of all, I was shocked that she even remembered the book and second of all, shocked by her self-insight. For you see, Emma is indeed my little Wemberly.

• Emma worries we are going to be late.
• She worries we will run out of graham crackers and milk.
• She worries Ali will miss her if she goes to the bathroom.
• She worries we will get lost while driving (which we often do ;)).
• She worries Howie will get cold when he goes outside to go to the bathroom.
• She worries she will run out of freckles.
• She worries that Daddy won't be able to see in the helicopter when it gets dark.
• She worries her bones won't stop growing and she will get so big she won't fit in our house anymore and she will have to go live with Clifford, the big red dog.

I sure love my Worrying Wemberly. I love her tender, kind, helpful heart that makes her prone to worrying. I'm glad I turned down the radio and was able to have a heart-to-heart with Emma and learn a little bit more about her.