i’m distracted and tired and lonely these days.
i’m lost and confused, and at the end of the day, when they put on their pjs, and brush their teeth, and i trip over baseball cleats and there’s red dirt in my floor,
they’ll crawl in my bed and scrunch their eyes closed and
i pretend they’re already asleep and i push their hair back and i kiss their foreheads and i linger and i pray over them and i whisper them good night and i choke back the tears and i breathe deep and i walk away,
and they lift their heads and jump up and say, “momma! aren’t you gonna lay down with us?!”
and when all i want to do is throw my work clothes into the floor, and grab a book and a coke and settle down on the couch and ignore the dirty dishes…
i sigh, and i crawl into the middle of the bed that’s no longer empty, work clothes and all…
and there they fall asleep, on either side of me, all sweaty and snoring and close,
and i ignore the dirty dishes, and the red dirt in the floor, and i didn’t need that coke anyway,
and i drift to dream, surrounded by the best things in the entire world…
[this is a simple story.]
Sometimes they’re exactly what we need and they don’t even know it.
Oh, I remember those days. When they are little and they fit just right, and their breathing becomes deep and slow and almost hypnotic. Visiting from the simply story link up at Ashleigh’s. I love this moment.