Thankful Thursday

I have a secret. In the mornings when I am laying bed and I hear little footsteps coming into my room I pretend to keep sleeping as a silently slide my arm across the bed to Andrew's empty space (he has already left for work).  Moments later a small body climbs into bed on that side and finding my hand, slips its own hand into mine.  I lay there pretending to sleep as I listen to the irregular rhythms of the the small body's breathing.  The little body is my 6 yr old son who like me says nothing about our little moment of holding hands.  He lays there occasionally holding his breath and then releasing it.  I listen and for a moment I can see the situation for what it is.  In my minds eye I can see him growing everyday bigger and less needful of me.  Just like that little body, I figuratively breath irregularly and hold my breath at times as I anticipate the day when he figures out that his Mom isn't his best girl or the only girl that isn't gross to him.  Sisters and friends at school that are girls are gross.  Mom isn't.  I am thankful for that and until that day comes I will continue to sneak my arm across to strategically place it where he will find it and place his hand in mine.

My nephew calls me sometimes.  He calls and says "hey I've got something fun to tell you, get on skype" - I laugh like I'm 12 and run to the computer to turn it on.  He is 18 now and in his second semester of college at BYU.  Talking to him brings me back to the coursework, roommates and daily life of college.  Hearing his funny stories of the girls, friends and shenanigans he gets in to keeps me feeling young.  I love talking to him because he is one of my good friends.  With us there is no generation gap.  Last night he had a personal narrative to read me that he wrote for one of his classes.  It was laughably similar to the silly "video diaries" we do with each other over skype.  Looking into the camera we make up silly stories of trial and personal anguish for as long as we can manage it before the other person's face makes us laugh.  I am thankful for family.

I'm a hopeless romantic.  I have often had in my mind how it would be romantic to read a book to my husband.  One with humor, intrigue and of course a bit of love.  I imagine us laughing at funny parts as we go through the story and I imagine the way Andrew's face would light up as he tried to figure out what is going to happen next in the plot.  I convinced him last night to let me try this.  I chose a book and started reading.  It was a quiet and serene hour and as my voice caught the rhythm of the book and the words sputtered out without hiccups the moment was just as I had hoped it would be.  I am thankful for a husband who will try new things with me and who if I dare say is just as hopeless and just as romantic as I am.