The barnyard was rather quiet when I arrived early this morning. No babes anywhere! While you might be concerned, I simply took it as an opportunity to get some work done, without a passel of fuzzballs climbing around in my office. Brutus and Tilly are usually corralling them somewhere or other, plying them with granola squares or other treats.

There was already a cup of steaming coffee, with my favorite creamer, resting beside my computer. That would be Squagon, as that tiny fella has enough energy and enthusiasm for the lot of us! He’s always the first one up in the mornings, and the toughest nut to get to sleep at night! I think he makes my coffee for me, just so that he can drink some of it while he’s preparing mine!

I sat down at my desk and picked up my cup to savor it’s aroma for a few moments. I’d barely begun to drink my coffee, when I heard a small disturbance, outside the window behind my desk. I lazily swiveled my chair around, to peek through the glass toward the direction of the sound. I could only see the tops of what looked like Tilly’s velvety ears. As I stood up and peered closer through the window, I could see her there, sitting on a bale of hay, quietly crying!

I immediately forgot about any sort of work I’d been planning to do, hastily setting my coffee down and headed for the back of the barn, where Tilly sat beneath my window. At first, as I knelt down in front of her, the mouse tried to put on a brave face. She weakly smiled, hiccupping through a tiny sob, and then completely fell apart! I picked her up in my arms and sat down on the hay with my tiny friend. Quietly, I waited for her sobs to subside, as there would be no point in asking questions amidst snuffles, blubbering and tears.

When Tilly gets upset, the best thing to do for her is to blow gently on the fur behind her ears; for some reason, it always calms the little mouse. So, for nearly five minutes I softly blew upon my little sensitive one… Tilly, like myself, tends to have a very gentle and emotional side. I know that when I’m upset or hurting, it takes me a bit of time to talk about how I’m feeling. I supposed that if she were like me at all, she simply needed a few moments to collect herself.

Finally, when the tears subsided, Tilly began to share the reason for her tears. You see, the reason it was so quiet in the barnyard this morning, was because all the babes were out in the back field building a fort. Tilly, being the big sister of things, had tried to guide them with ideas that would be fun but safe. But, being the babes of such adventurous renown, they’d not only rejected all her ideas but apparently, they kicked her out of the fort! Tilly was devastated!

Oh Boy! Ummm… how was I going to mend such a big ouchie? As I held my sad little friend, I chose my words carefully. The first thing I did was encourage Tilly, that I realized how much she tries to care for us all, here in the barn. I reassured her of the need for her wisdom and concern for our safety, requesting that she never quite trying to be who she was inside. This part was easy, as Tilly is sort of like a nanny to the babes, wanting nothing more than to be a mom herself one day. The encouragement was already beginning to work it’s magic!

Trying to undo harsh words, on the other hand, was going to take some effort! Rather than trying to defend something someone else did or said, I could only offer Tilly words of encouragement and advice on how to respond. I knew she felt sad at being left out, hurt by their words of rejection, and a bit angry that no one listened to her ideas. How was I supposed to undo all that?

I began to realize that I needed to encourage Tilly to forgive her young friends, and work it out with the ones involved! If I were to walk into the group with a solution, I’d be talking to myself! These were babes, with Tilly not being much older than the rest of them. Sure, I could break up the party and make everyone say the expected “I’m Sorry,” but it would NOT help in mending hurts! If I forced them to apologize, of course they would, but would it be heartfelt? Growing up into an adult mouse can be hard sometimes, and often confusing. All I could do was to share these thoughts with Tilly, in the hopes that she could be brave enough to go back out there and try again! Sometimes the hardest part of being the grown up, is letting others do their own growing up, without doing it for them.

Tilly must have understood enough of what I said, or perhaps she just felt better after I blew on her fur with love, because she began to visibly brighten. Wiping away her tears, the tiny mouse hopped up on my shoulder, kissed the tip of my chin, and was off like a shot toward the back field. All I can do now, is wait for the return of my crew of babes, to learn of how things went out at the fort. I love all the babes and so does Tilly! She’s a bright mouse, being way ahead of her young age. Santa saw this about her and he believed in her loving heart… and so do I!

Though my coffee is now cold, I’ll just reheat it. I’ve got work to do now that I’m back in my office. Whatever comes of things out back, I’ll be sure to update you when I know how things turned out with the babes. I assure you that it’s not the end of the world, as we’re a family, and a family works things out!