Remember to buy strawberries

My daughter is four.

When I go to work, she goes to daycare. Most days she's excited to get there. Some days she isn't.

The days she's less excited to spend there, she needs an extra bear hug. Maybe two. Or ten, even. I don't mind. Even if I sometimes feel like I have to run, I try to remind myself that I really don't. Those extra hugs are worth it.

It doesn't end with hugs, of course.

Those particular days, she will also grab a chair to stand on, open the window and shout farewells at me as I drive (walk, if I'm lucky) past. If I open the passenger window all the way, we can see each other and say our goodbyes.

At first she'll shout regular things.

"Bye daddy!"

"See you later!"

"Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye!"

Perfectly normal things for a four year old to yell to a parent driving off to work. This post is not about that. It's about something she's shouted after me three times just before I get out of earshot.

"Remember to buy strawberries!"

What?

This is always completely out of context. Each time it's the first I've heard anything about strawberries for days or weeks. She's never asked me about the strawberries at a later time.

I don't know why she thinks to remind me to buy strawberries at that time. It always makes me smile, though. And I can only think that that is why she does it. Because even the thought of strawberries brighten her day a little bit.

Makes sense. What's not to like about strawberries? They're awesome.

Today I went to the grocery store. Walking past the strawberries, I thought of the last time she reminded me to buy strawberries shouting out of a window on a cold, damp and misty autumn morning. Again it made me smile. "I sure will", I thought to myself. Tomorrow, she'll reap the rewards.

I wrote this to pay it forward. In the case that someone reading it might be in need of a little cheering up. This is me shouting to you, from my digital window:

Remember to buy strawberries!

Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye!