» I have a special treat today. For me! Today I share a few of my most favorite parenting memories. Vignettes of early fatherhood that I've never shared before. Some of my most precious memories. Places I go when I'm missing the Bug.
Since Newtown, and especially after seeing those photos of Peter's newborn son .. I've been thinking ..
.. about the preciousness of little children. The innocence. (The most fragile of graces.)
My first precious parenting memory that I'd like to share today comes from the time when the Bug was very small. I'm not sure .. maybe 2 years old.
It was the middle-of-the-night .. when we were living back at the old house. (What an enchanted place that was. A safe haven for us. A sanctuary. A quiet, protected sanctuary.)
» Little Hand | Big Face
I remember being very tired when I heard him stir (.. sleeping there beside me).
It was dark, very dark .. and I was facing the other way .. in the process of summoning the strength to turn and see what he was doing ..
.. when I felt his hand light on my face .. his tiny, little hand .. exploring the contours of my face. With those tiny little fingers.
I suspect he was simply trying to determined who it was sleeping there beside him. (He had been going back-n-forth between his mom & his dad since well before his first birthday.)
Anyway, I felt his little hand explore my face, my scruffy face .. then he laid back down, and went back to sleep. =)
Words seem wholly inadequate to describe the feeling. Like nothing I had ever experienced. So precious was the feeling .. that I can still feel that little hand today.
PS - Happy Easter! "He is not here, for He is risen, just as He said."
» A Waking Smile in the Woods
I used to take the Bug to the Environmental Nature Center (ENC) there in Newport Beach .. because of the wonderful wooded feeling you get ..
.. which is difficult to find anywhere else in semi-arid Orange county without a considerable drive. It reminded me of Connecticut, where I grew up. [ For 150 meters, anyway. =) ]
When he was still very small I would carry him .. thru the wooded areas of the ENC. Eventually he would become drowsy as his nap time approached.
One time, I noticed he was already asleep. So instead of taking him all the way back home, and maybe waking him in the process .. I simply found a comfortable place to lie down just off the beaten trail.