A Sweet Space In Time

My 3 year old son awoke from his nap all rosy cheeked and smiley (anyone who knows my 3 year old will know how unusual this is - it's the one characteristic he and his brother have in common - awaking with a serious grump on)

I had the radio on as I was cleaning the kitchen and checking emails.

After a brief hug and kiss for me he sat down at the kitchen table and politely asked for some milk.

I poured it into his favourite sippy cup and handed it to him singing along to the song playing on the radio You Live, You Learn by Alanis Morrissette.

And then...

He asked me to dance with him.

*heart expands then floods into puddle*

I obliged of-course gathering all of his 42 lb, 3 year old big boyness into my arms.

He placed his damp curly head, sweaty from sleep (my boys have inherited my ability to heat a room while sleeping) on my shoulder as we danced in a circle together while my little guy brought me his plastic toy dinosaurs and roared very scary dinosaur roars at me.

It was as though for a moment all planets of Mother and Sons were aligned with great synergy.

You know those brief periods in time as parents when you feel complete contentment...full of love, so appreciative of that twinkling minute that it make your insides sigh with happiness and smile.

In between Fin giving me dinosaur gifts, Adrian would give me little kisses on the cheek while playing idly with my hair. (okay, he was trying to be gentle but it felt more like he was yanking the hell out of it)  But I stifled the pain as my eyes watered and kept drifting around the room with him.

Listening and reflecting on the lyrics, as I always do, I found incredible meaning in them while dancing around the living room with my baby boys.

You live you learn 
You love you learn
You cry you learn 
You lose you learn
You bleed you learn 
You scream you learn 


You grieve you learn 
You choke you learn
You laugh you learn 
You choose you learn
You pray you learn 
You ask you learn
You live you learn 


How fitting a chorus for life, yes, but especially for the life of Motherhood.

I found the line "wear it out (the way a three-year-old would do)" especially apt given that my 3 year seems to wear out everything; toys, clothes...and especially his Mumma.


But I'll take feeling worn out, bedraggled and often occasionally crazy for the sweet yet brief spaces in time such as these.