You would think that I would learn by now, but I’m always amazed at what my 4 year-old daughter retains based on what she sees and hears. I know I was playing Cyndi Lauper’s greatest hits in the car, and while I’m driving up front it’s easy to forget that there are 2 young children strapped into their car seats behind me.

Well, the other day (it was close to Mother’s Day) I was doing something with Sloane (preparing her cereal and milk for breakfast perhaps) and she looked at me and started to sing, “Time After Time.” I froze.

To hear that sweet, sweet, angelic, baby-girl voice serenading me at the breakfast table, during such an otherwise ordinary moment in my day, it gave me chills. “If you’re lost you can look and you will find me/Time after time/If you fall I will catch you, I will be waiting/Time after time.” And I had no idea she knew the lyrics? And to hear it like that, so unprompted and un-coached and spontaneous. It was so natural and genuine.

I’m getting shivers as I write this while recalling that moment. I replay that moment over and over in my head these days. It’s magical. And every bit of stress or anxiety that I have in my mind melts away. It’s the best kind of therapy that money can’t buy.