PARENTING September 8, 2008 Issue

THE SMILE WAS ALWAYS THERE

MARILYN WICKSTROM

WHILE CLEANING CLOSETS, I came across pictures taken 25 years before in the Colorado mountains. The day had been bright and warm, and I hadn't been able to resist photographing our then three-year-old son among the blue delphiniums. The colors were still strikingly beautiful, but there was one major ingredient missing! His beautiful smile.

I mentioned this to him in a half-kidding way, as we looked at the pictures. He reminded me that he'd been unhappy — especially when he'd fallen and hadn't gotten the attention he thought he deserved.

There was something about our conversation that day that I couldn't let go of. As I thought about it, I could see that I'd spent a good deal of time as a mother planning for my child's future (even though I thought I was looking to God for guidance, as I'd learned to do in Christian Science). And my son had rebelled against this in just about every way possible.

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