The Shoulder

I knew I was about to fall.

They look so small, and frail, not sturdy at all.

A couple of weeks ago, I did something stupid, and really over stretched the muscle in my right hip. It reminds me daily.

She is so young, still so little, with so much growing to do.

I haven't been really steady on my feet since then.

She giggles, tells silly jokes, and claims to have a thousand different voices - her favourite is the Queen.

My greatest fear. Absolute greatest. Is of falling. Of the hurt that would follow. And the need to get up afterwards.

She is fast, and light, quick silver has nothing on her.

Falling. Terrifies. Me.

She is also loyal and determined and brave.

And I was about to fall.

She is what my mother would call 'a wee slip of a girl.'

I had stood and turned too quickly. My balance left me.

She builds forts in our basement with her sister with walls a thousand hundred feet tall.

I didn't cry out. I didn't have time.

She loves stuffy animals and always needs just one more.

I looked around, panic struck.

She has hair that is styled by an angry Greek goddess.

All I saw was Sadie, an 8 year old girl, playing with her sister.

She loves being a girl, she loves what it means to be a girl.

"Sadie, give me your shoulder!!!"

She knows when to be serious, she knows when to help.

She ran to me and let me take her shoulder.

She knows that she has an important place in the family, she knows she is loved and needed.

I managed to right myself.

She's a little girl, a child, a puff of air. 

I felt her gather her strength and stand firm, her shoulder never moved.

She is strong when she needs to be. Very strong. Shoulders not frail at all.

Never underestimate, the weight that a girl's shoulder can bear.

She smiled up at me, seeing me steady, and ran back to play.

Never underestimate the power of a girl.