A certain kind of love by Mr. Ryan, age 3

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How many grown ups have scary rubber lizards outside the door a of Magic Cottage?
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How many grown ups let you eat ice cream in the Big Boy Chair, even if it's a little past your bedtime?

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And have a fairy named Chole in the back yard who isn't scary and lives in the ferns?

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How many grown ups don't mind letting my brother Drewbee and me squirt the hose in every direction, no matter how wet we get?

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How many grown ups have lollipops in their garden so you can just pick any color you want and pull it right from the ground?

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(Except for some reason even though all the sticks and wrappers looked perfect, there were no lollipops inside--not one! Gram and I had to plant two brand new rows. Did someone eat all the lollipops and then make it look like she didn't?)

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And how many grown ups love my Mother so much they wrote a poem about her and if they could they would do anything in the entire world for her, no questions asked... (and for me and Drewbee and my Dad too)

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Jessica

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Take both eyes, both hands,
My legs and arms,
Even take the precious German clock
And every special book.
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Take my bank account,
All twenty photo albums,
My garden in August
And the miraculous April rain.
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Take it all if you can promise.
I knew in the instant this would be so.
I’m into any burning house,
Onto a frigid raft at sea,
I’m ripping the mangled steel with my bare hands.
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Anything, anything for this girl.
The edgeless corners of the truest love
And the endless reserve of cavernous protection
Surround this child who lives within and without,
This fantabulous kid with the crack up wit
And the tender expansive heart.
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Take it all, whether you are a son-of-a-bitch
Or an evolving angel,
Whether the cost is temporary or forever,
Take it all if you’ll shelter this child
Through every molecular motion and moment.
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She sits at a desk with wall
And she finds little bargains at malls.
She eats salads at Bugaboo Creek
And on Sundays brings Sprite to her grandmother.
She is an anchor in an unsteady world.
She is hybrid fuel to those who love her.
She is a reason to push
And the forever foremost answer
To everything that could ever matter.
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Given the chance to love like this,
The price of my sightless limbless body
And wiped clean barren possessions
Amounts to nothing more than shiny pennies and
And effortless will.