I still remember the Christmas season when Alex was two, and I was reading Colleen Monroe's A Wish to Be a Christmas Tree to her. As the details were being painted of a lonely tree who never gets picked to be a Christmas tree in someone's living room, I glanced at my little girl. She was listening with rapt attention...and a huge tear rolling down her cheek. She had the same reaction when we read about Charlotte's death in Charlotte's Web.
This evening, Alex's tender heart took over once again. A few weeks ago, we studied New York, and I gave some brief details to Alex about what happened to the Twin Towers. Now Alex has taken to blaring her stereo during her shower, so The Fish tunes were once again wafting throughout the house this evening. After her shower, she came to join the rest of us upstairs and immediately prefaced her presence with, "I'm not crying; I just got soap in my eyes." I empathized with her for a few moments and left it at that.
About 10 minutes later, Alex shared with me that she had heard a man on the radio talking about a family member he lost on 9/11. I asked, "Is that why you were crying?" She didn't answer, so I offered, "It's OK to cry. I still cry even 6 years later when I hear the stories." She then admitted that her tears were real. She also seemed to want to talk about it, so we had a conversation about more of the details of the day. She was interested to hear that on 9/11/01, she and I were in my room packing to head to Florida the next day.
Alex shed a couple more tears when we prayed for any families affected by 9/11. Her compassion touches my heart, and her wisdom in understanding difficult events always amazes me. She has said many times before that she wants to one day work for Samaritan's Purse. I know her tender heart will have much to offer should those dreams be realized.
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