I'll Love You Forever

I was awake for 20 minutes or so before I finally gave up. The moon is near full and that always seems to lead to disrupted sleep.

My head started writing. Why does the good stuff happen in the middle of the night, in the dark? I thought of a new introduction to an article I'm working on and didn't want to risk losing it between now and morning. Resigned, I got up to write.

I've been up a while now, yet these are the first words I'm actually getting down. The naughty moon isn't just taunting me tonight - I had no more than reached the end of the hallway when I was imperiously summoned.

I'll tell you - it's been awhile. This surprises me, in fact. I've not been hauled out of a sound sleep for a small boy in dinosaur pajamas in a long time.And to be honest, I'm a little sad about that. These nighttime raids wreak havoc on my rest - but they are one of my most precious acts of mothering.

He wanted nothing more than a kiss on a tender finger. And a little rock...so we did, a bit awkwardly off the edge of the bed, this boy over half my size yet still needing his mother in the middle of the night, in the quiet dark, for a bit of human touch. He curled his head into my shoulder, his hands clutching precious Blue-Blue to his chest and we rocked. Back and forth, back and forth.

And in my mind I whispered:

I'll love you forever.
I'll like you for always.
As long as I'm living,
My baby you'll be.