MAMA, YOU'RE LIKE A MANATEE

Leaving school today holding their hands as we wait for the crossing guard's whistle to blow.

"Emma, sweetie," I call to a classmate of Saia's who's standing a little too close to the curb waiting for her mother to come pick her up,"why don't you take about 4 steps towards the fence so you're not so close to the street?"

And she does.

And we say goodbye and cross.

Halfway across the street, Santiago leans into me and without looking up says, "Mama, you're like a manatee."

"A what?"

"A manatee!" he yells gleefully. "But like a mama manatee, you know?"

"Umm...ok...well, thanks, Bubba, I think," and kinda suck in my belly self-consciously.

"No, mama, you don't get it. Mama manatees don't only protect their own babies, they protect all the other manatees' babies, too. And you do that all the time."

[melting.]

...