Looking back now, it was all so… clear. But in the moment, who would have thought much of it? I sure didn’t.
When Delilah was a baby, I loved holding her in front of the mirror. She would smile at her reflection and babble. It was adorable. She’d reach out and touch her own face and it was all so wonderful and new to her.
But maybe we shouldn’t have done that. Maybe no one should do that.
Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself.
When Delilah was a little older, she had a mini vanity with an arched mirror and it looked like a shrunk down version of my vanity. And when I’d sit down to put my makeup on or do my hair, she’d copy me. I loved it. It was our special bonding time.
But once in awhile, I’d walk past the room and she’d be sitting at the vanity and talking to the mirror. And I didn’t immediately think anything bad about it. She loved playing make believe games. I figured she was playing a game by herself. She’d been super into princesses and princess stories at that time and I thought she was talking to her ‘lady’s maid’ or something. It was cute.
Fast-forward a couple months and she put a blanket over her mirror.
I asked her why she covered her mirror and she said she put her friends in time out. When I asked her what her friends did to be in trouble she just shrugged. Yes, part of me wanted to know more about these ‘friends’ in her mirror. But I didn’t ask.