Tears in Target

Ok, so I thought it was safe to peruse Knuffle Bunny Free in the Target aisle this morning. My kids were at school or daycare, so nobody was going to climb up my leg, beg for fruit snacks, or use my knee as a kleenex. I could spend 37 seconds paging through Mo Willems' latest creation.

Wrong-O.

Not because of distraction. Because this time, I was the one in need of a kleenex and a lap to climb into.

I love Mo Willems, the style of his writing, using simple cartoon characters against real black and white photography, and, of course, Knuffle Bunny himself. But this was so much more than that.

Knuffle Bunny Free (get it? Knuffle Bunny, Knuffle Bunny Too, and Knuffle Bunny Free? Ok, so I just got it today-- 1,2,3... ugh) has all the appropriate parts. Cuteness, creativity, and Mo.

For me, it was the story. The loss of something so very important, you don't think life can possibly move forward. You can't eat, you can't sleep, you can't possibly ever be happy again.

Then, lo and behold, you start to. Not only does life go on, but you even start to experience new things that you didn't know you had in you. Life is fun, uninhibited, fantastic. And just when you start to get used to it...

BAM!!!

Your life is returned to normal. Well, what normal was before. And you realize, that even though you are so happy you can hardly stand it, you don't need your old life back. You've grown up. You've moved on. And someone else might even gain from your experience.

And you might even shed a tear in Target. Don't worry, the nice lady walking by with the toddler in her cart offers you a kleenex. You thank her, blow your nose, and warn her, as a parent, not to read the section beyond "the end," and hand her the book.