a child's quiet cry

You know you've done something great when you impress a person who is known to be a hard critic. Especially if those hard critics are family. I managed to do that recently and it feels...good. I've done something right.

Today I happened to see a little child. A young girl, about the age of three or four lovingly sleeping with her bottle of milk in hand lying in her father's arms. She dozes off into the land of dreams. Like an angel. Minutes pass and she is sound asleep only to be awaken by a loud "POP". Her bottle had fallen to the ground. She startled herself her her sleep. Wide awake and confused. Her father calms her and reassures her that everything is alright. Her peaceful sleep disturbed. but like many children, she did not fuss or cause a scene. The little girl sits up and props her head on her father's shoulder. I glance st her face to see a single tear begin to fall down her cheek. The tear absorbed by her father's blue shirt as another tear falls soon after. She was crying. It was a quiet cry. One that seems to express the feeling of making a mistake. Not a look of worry on her face. Her mother next to them wipes away her tears and caresses the soft black hair of the little girl. Did she feel reassured? I don't know. I felt a somber feeling come over me as I remembered my own experience as a child.