Oh, my sweet daughter! I’m thankful that, of all the things she could “suffer”, my four-year-old daughter is simply dealing with food allergies. She can’t have dairy or nuts.

On most days, we barely notice it. There are so many dairy-free alternatives & vegan-friendly food that we have found it downright easy to “cope”.

Then there are days like today. 🙁

We enjoy going to church some Saturday nights. My hubby Adam & I both volunteer at the church on Sunday mornings, so it’s nice, whenever we can, to sit and enjoy a church service without worrying about production cues and set list orders and remembering all the announcements I have to share on stage.

But tonight there was a sign on the preschool kids’ room: Allergy Alert! The snack today is ice cream, whipped cream, fudge and sprinkles. 🙁

That meant everybody would have some, except my daughter.

Granted, there might have been other kids with health issues that I didn’t know of who also would not be able to eat the snack.

But I didn’t know. And I felt bad for her.

Before leaving, I told her that she couldn’t have the ice cream, but we could get a sweet treat later. 🙂

She happily darted off to play. And when I picked her up, she announced that she had made a new friend! Yay!

What a relief.

She wasn’t crying, feeling left out or limited.

She had fun!

Even though there was a part during the church service when I couldn’t help but think that she might be feeling left out during snack time, my worry and fear were mostly unnecessary.

Sometimes it feels as though everybody “can” but you. It feels like a big deal. A HUGE hurdle. A night-ruiner.

But I’m glad (and relieved) that tonight wasn’t ruined. We didn’t have to jump a huge hurdle. It wasn’t a big deal.

Everybody could, my daughter didn’t, and it was ok.

After church, I made good on my promise to get her a sweet treat that she could enjoy. She chose a pink birthday cake pop from Starbucks, which meant mommy went ahead and got a treat, too! For this mom, that was extra sweet because we got to savor a little extra time together.

That’s sweeter than any ice cream sundae.

Laughing through life,

~Coppelia