The moments that make it worthwile.

Me: "Do you know what, Juliette?"

Juliette pauses. She is happily eating a taco, an art that she hasn't mastered yet, so most of the filling is sitting in a pile on her lap. She thinks for a minute: "Ummmm". She takes a bite. Swallows. "Uhhhh". Stops eating. "No, I don't know what Mommy." She has salsa and sour cream smeared all over her face, more taco is falling into her lap because she is holding it the wrong way, and she is looking at me with wide eyes, waiting to find out what.

I forget what I was going to say because I'm so enchanted. I can't help it, I burst out: "I love you!".

"Oh!" She says this breathlessly, quietly, as if I've just said the most amazing thing. "I love you too, mommy!"

Sigh. Life is good.