Over the past couple of months I have felt much better when leaving Kate with a sitter. There have been one or two occasions when she asked if I couldn’t stay with them, but it didn’t sound like she was doing so as a result of any insecurity. It was more like she just wanted me to share in their time together.
This past Friday Kate was asleep on the sofa in the family room when I left. I started to wake her to say goodbye but didn’t. When I walked into the kitchen on returning home, I heard Mary say, “There he is.” I walked into the family room. Kate was sitting on the sofa. She stood up and said, “Thank God you’re here!” (That’s not something she would typically say.) I walked over to her, and she extended her arms to me, and we hugged. I told her I was sorry I hadn’t said goodbye. She said, “I was all right. I just didn’t know where you were.”
She was obviously relieved to see me. I’m not sure that Mary remembered where I was going. Even if she did, Kate’s memory doesn’t last more than a few seconds. She would never have remembered. On a few other occasions, Mary has mentioned Kate’s asking where I was, but this was the clearest indication of the intensity of her insecurity when she doesn’t where I am. I’m not ready to believe that this will become a pattern for the future, but I will be more alert to that possibility.
