Mary Rose loves to just be near me and wants to help me with everything.
One night as we were cooking dinner together, I took the pot off the burner and indicating the still glowing red surface of the stove said, "Don't touch Mary, that's hot ok.?" as I began to wash out the pot we where cooking in.
Instinct warned me I guess and I turned around just in time to catch a look cross Mary Rose's face. It was a look I recognized, as it has resonated from my own heart before. It was a weighing. Weighing the price or experience for knowledge.
I knew then what she would do even as I knew it was too late to stop her and perhaps I shouldn't have wanted to anyway. She reached out her little finger and touched the burner, just for an instant. The results where predictable. It hurt; she cried.
But she also knew now. She need not ever wonder again about the “why not”.
I wonder now if it was worth the price of the experience for her and if she have done it again given the opportunity.
I don’t know, but I probably would.