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A Mother's Work  by Dreamflower 11 Review(s)
Queen GaladrielReviewed Chapter: 3 on 4/7/2013
Aww! Poor little Merry! This just makes me want to cuddle him!

Author Reply: Yes, poor little Merry! But you can see he's going to have trouble with separation anxiety all his life.

(Made me want to cuddle him, too!)

BodkinReviewed Chapter: 3 on 5/24/2007
That's the trouble with child-care! A kid gets to love someone to whom he is, however much he is loved, a job. And jobs end.

It's not surprising he wants to keep an eye on his mother for a while. But Frodo is very good and understanding with him.

Author Reply: Yes, it is. I suppose it was not quite so bad when a child's nursemaid stayed with the same family year after year, so that she really was almost a part of the family until all the children grew up. Nowadays with day-care it's much worse. I worked briefly as a day-care worker many years ago, and even though I only had the job a few months, I got quite fond of my little charges. But that made no-never-mind when the owner decided she wanted a personal friend in the position.

So keeping his family under his eye is going to be important to little Merry for a while--though clearly that's a trait he kept the rest of his life.

And Frodo really is very understanding, isn't he?

elanor winterflowersReviewed Chapter: 3 on 5/15/2007
Poor little one! But what a gentle little scene, and so sweetly conceived. A lovely start to a spring day--thank you!

Author Reply: Thank you, dear! I meant to respond to this days ago, and was so surprised to realize I hadn't!

I was working for sweet and gentle, so I am glad that it came across that way.

GamgeeFestReviewed Chapter: 3 on 5/14/2007
Aw! Poor Merry, missing his nursemaid. I love that he invited her husband to come live with them - that's such a Merry thing to do. But I can't help but think that in another year or so, Frodo will be leaving also. This is just a hint of things to come, I fear.

Author Reply: LOL! Merry sees no reason that everyone he loves can't be under the same roof!

This *was* meant to foreshadow the following year: Frodo's leaving will be much more difficult, though for "my" Merry, the actual event is partially ameliorated by the fact that he's visiting Bag End himself at the time ("A Place for Gandalf")--it doesn't really hit him until he gets back to Brandy Hall and has to face Frodo's empty room. Then he realizes that it's truly permanent, poor baby.

Baggins BabeReviewed Chapter: 3 on 5/14/2007
Poor Merry, missing Dahlia and not really knowing how to express it. You're right about his separation anxiety too. I loved Esme - so loving and kind with both her lads, and poor sweet Merry saying sorry for upsetting Frodo and being 'bad.' *sniff* And sensible Frodo to volunteer to write a letter!

Author Reply: That's just it, he doesn't quite know how to express it. Esme's a very good and understanding mother, I think. And she would know how poor Merry's crossness would upset Frodo.

Well, a letter would be just the thing for Frodo, who loves to write, to think of!

Queen GaladrielReviewed Chapter: 3 on 5/13/2007
Aww! What a darling little story! Poor little Merry, not knowing how to deal with missing Dahlia. Esme certainly has her hands full, doesn't she? :) How good of Frodo to help Merry write the letter. I'll bet Dahlia will miss her little charge, too. Who couldn't?

Just one little thing--you have Eglantine instead of Esmeralda here:

Eglantine had not realized how hard Merry would take his nursemaid’s leaving.

And yes, I'm anxious to see Eglantine's own chapter too! :)
God bless,
Galadriel

Author Reply: Yes, poor little Merry's just too young to understand how to deal with missing an important person in his life.

Frodo would want to help Merry cope, and I'm sure that writing a letter would be just the thing he'd think of!

Yes--I need to get in there and change that! Thanks! 8-)

And I hope to have Eglantine's chapter up by Wednesday!

PIppinfan1988Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 5/13/2007
*sigh, sniffle* This was another hanky story; so sweet, so beautiful. Poor little Merry feeling so insecure! Good thing Frodo and his mummy are there and so very understanding. :-)

PF

Author Reply: For some reason, Merry, insecure at any age, just gets to me. I suppose it's because he seems so competent and self-assured in his plans, but you can see by his very determination to *be* with the people he loves--whether Frodo, Theoden, Eowyn, or Pippin--that he *still* has separation anxiety!

Frodo is always understanding of his "sprout", and Esmeralda is a very good mother.

AntaneReviewed Chapter: 3 on 5/13/2007
And there is another goodbye to come too. I dread that knowing how badly he reacted to this one, but it's completely natural and Frodo helped him through it and they will both survive their own parting and still remain close.

Namarie, God bless, Antane :)

Author Reply: Yes, this is a deliberate foreshadowing of the following year, when Frodo leaves for Hobbiton.

In *my* Shire, Merry is with Frodo at Bag End when the decisions are made ("A Place for Gandalf") and so, even though he's sad, it doesn't *really* hit him until he gets home to Buckland and sees Frodo's empty room. ( "Seven, Going on Thirty-nine") I'm afraid he really does grieve then. But he's just a little older, and perhaps weathering *this* parting helped him a little.

harrowcatReviewed Chapter: 3 on 5/13/2007
I love your Esmeralda and it is such a shame that she only has Frodo and Merry to lavish such love upon.

Author Reply: It is a shame that she did not have more children. But she did very well by those she *did* have.

KittyReviewed Chapter: 3 on 5/13/2007
It is understandable that little Merry is so anxious to have everyone he loves around after losing his nursemaid. Though it must be difficult for his mother.
And it must have hurt Frodo when Merry said he loved his lessons more than him – it’s a pity the age difference is too much to give them lessons together. But Merry has to learn he can’t always be with everyone, as hard as it is just now.

Author Reply: But Merry has to learn he can’t always be with everyone, as hard as it is just now.

This is a lesson he never truly learns--years later, after the Quest, he is still fretting about any of his loved ones that he cannot keep near. But I think that is part of his tenacious and protective nature.

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