Sweet Child,

I am sitting on the couch nursing your sister, listening to you sing songs in your room. You’re supposed to be napping, but I’m enjoying the sound of your sweet voice. ABCs and Itsy Bitsy Spider fill the air, and I’m soaking up everything from this moment.

The house is a disaster. There are toys everywhere. There is a half-eaten peanut butter sandwich on the table, and boxes of mac and cheese are piled in the living room that you were using to build a tower. Usually it feels daunting and overwhelming, but today that mess brings a smile to my face because it’s a reminder of a great morning with you. It’s a reminder of the love, laughter, and joy that fills this house.

I wish to bottle up these memories, so on those cold, lonely days I can enjoy them once more. That peanut butter grin, how you want me to see everything you do, how you come to me to erase the pain of a boo-boo.

I get to be your hero for this ever so small window of your life, and I’m extremely grateful.

It’s so easy to grumble about this and that in life. There are a lot of negative influences everywhere, but I don’t want to be that in your life. I don’t ever want you to feel like you’re a burden. You’re a blessing. You and your sister. Our family is a blessing, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Time is slipping by faster and faster. While you and your sister were eating breakfast this morning, it hit me. You feed yourself. You scrape the bowl when you’re down to the last couple bites. You don’t need my help. When did that happen? And how did I miss it? There are so many things you can do on your own, and the past flashed before my eyes.

Each day you grow a little older, you do a little more on your own, you need me a little less.

Time, slow down. Lord, help me enjoy these precious moments before they are just a memory.

It’s quiet now. You must have fallen asleep, and a part of me longs to hear you sing or read to your stuffed animals. Is this the silence I’m going to experience one day? I’m thankful that day is not today. What a blessing I have been given.

Love,

Momma