The Hallelujah Child

In pulp fiction you hear cliches like, "time stood still".  The moment, perhaps, when the hero recognizes a twitch in the face of an enemy, reaching for his gun. Or, a moment of love at first site. 

One morning last week as I headed out the door for work, Anja asked if she could come with me. (Actually this has become a routine. I crouch down to hug and kiss her, and she begins to whimper. "Pleeeeease? Can I go to work with you?" I want to take her with me, I do.).  On this particular morning, after I'd told her that I wanted to bring her with me and just couldn't, she sighed and said, "Well take a picture of us to work with you".  I couldn't think of which picture she was referring to...

Anja raced to her bedroom. I looked over at Daddy as if to say, 'Help, I'm going to be late...'

She returned with a small card in her hand. She looked up at me and handed me the card.  "Here Mommy, here's a picture of us to take with you."  

Time indeed stood still. It was a card I bought in Slovakia with the image of Madonna & child.  

For some strange reason...

... the folks at Dreamworks included Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" on the original Shrek soundtrack.  One afternoon while listening to Jeff Buckley, his rendition of the song came on. Anja's head popped up.

"Hey! The Hallelujah song!"  She wanted to put my headphones on and sing along. 

I never thought I'd see the day that a 3 year old would be getting down to Leonard Cohen.