Know This

Of-course the question is always at the back of my mind, when are my sons' going to stop giving me kisses and snuggles.  When will they begin to cringe outwardly and roll their eyes when I call them sweetie pie, honey bear or lovey.  When will they simply be too big, too old to want to cuddle with me...when will that last snuggle on the couch be?  When will I no longer be required for night time back tickles?  I know that day will come too soon.  And it brings an intense ache to my heart when these thoughts creep in at the most random moments...those are the times I swoop in and bury my face into their soft necks and smoochsmoochsmooch their delicious still slightly chubby cheeks.

But then I was witness to three different Mother-Son scenes in 2 days that made me almost weepy with relief.

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"Thanks Mom.  I'll talk to you later."

"You're welcome sweetie pie.  I love you."

She called her forty something son, father of three, sweetie pie.  Oh yes she did.

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"Good morning sweetheart." She says as she walks toward him sitting at the kitchen table.  She leans down to give him a kiss on the cheek and sets a tea on the table next to him.  He looks up at his Mother with respect and love.

She was still taking care of her son and with a sweet kiss to the cheek to boot.  Her son that is a grown married man.

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She walks up to her son and grabs his face playfully between her loving Mother-Hands.  She leans in for a smacking good kiss, then moves beside him giving him an enthusiastic side hug.  She looks up at his smiling face with so.much.love.  So.much.pride.

She is beaming beside her son.  Her twenty something year old son that just became engaged, his fiance standing at his other side.

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These three scenes I watched very closely with light and hope in my heart.  These three scenes meant that the love, the affection...it doesn't just end one day.  It simply evolves into something else. Just because my sons' will eventually begin to have deepening voices, whiskers on their once baby soft cheeks and hands larger than mine that I once easily enveloped doesn't mean that they'll no longer be my babies.  It doesn't mean that I won't be able to give them a spontaneous hug or call them honey bear.  Or tell them I love them to the moon and back.  (Okay, okay. I'll save that one for their birthday cards).  I certainly won't be climbing into my sons' windows when they're grown men in the middle of the night and begin rocking them a la "Love You Forever".  But I get that message from the famous Robert Munsch book...I get it.  It's a book I can never, ever get through when I occasionally feel brave enough to read it to my boys. I become a sobbing, red faced mess. Much to my husband's entertainment.  He enjoys sitting outside the room where I can't see him choking back the laughter while I'm choking back tears.

I'll love you forever

I'll like you for always

As long as I'm living

My babies you'll be

(Just writing that paragraph gives me a lump in my throat)

So my dear boys, loves of my life, lights of my heart.  This is fair warning for you.  Be prepared for your Mother to love you more and more as the years go passed.  And to continue giving you affection and possibly embarrass you more than a few times by calling you honey love and sweet pea for years and years to come.

Because my love for you will just deepen as the years go by.  Just know that my loves.  Know that.