Forever and Always – Reducing Moms to Tears Everywhere

Getting Real With Wanda Morrissey

This famous verse is from the book Love You Forever. I love this story. I bought a copy for my son when he was still an infant. There’s just one problem: I can’t read it without bawling like a baby.

Jeffrey used to bring this book to read all the time. I would get as far as the mother rocking her infant in her arms, which is page one, and I’d be gone. I think I’ve managed to read the whole story to him only once. By the time I’d sobbed out the last tear soaked syllable, Jeffrey had crawled into my lap, thrown his arms around my neck and was telling me, “Don’t cry, Mommy.  It be okay.” That only made me cry harder.

I wish I could read him the story without turning into a blubbering mess. I think it’s a great story of a mother’s love. But when I start to read I start thinking about Jeffrey, his rough start in life, how lucky I am to have him, how quickly he’s growing, will we have the same love that the mother and son have in the book and I break down. I’ve tried I don’t know how many times to read it to him and just can’t. Even hearing my husband read it to him, I start to cry.

I said Jeffrey used to bring this book to me all the time. Yesterday he was pulling books out of his bookcase and getting me to read them. One of the books he pulled out was Love You Forever, he looked at it and put it back on the shelf, “Not this one Mommy, it make you cry.”