The Promise

This evening I was unloading the dishwasher and Harper was standing in the kitchen with me.  I noticed that she was staring up at the open cabinet which contains or cups and mugs.  On the top shelf I like to keep my travel coffee mugs.  It was these that Harper was eyeing.  We had been talking again, at dinner, about what she wanted to be when she grows up.  While standing in the kitchen, staring at the mugs, and formulating her future, Harper asked me a question.  "Daddy when I go to work at the hospital, can I take one of those coffee cups in case I want some coffee?"  I know it doesn't seem like much, but in an instant I flashed ahead 25 years and had visions of her using one of my mugs that I had promised to her when she was 3.  It just made me feel happy to hope someday I will be that important to her.  I then promised her that when she is all grown-up I will buy her her very own coffee mug.  But she said, "no Daddy, one of those will be just fine."