Bedtime

I need to get a "real" journal going, but until I do, this blog serves as such for me.

Matthew just warmed my heart and I had to record what he said, and some subsequent thoughts and feelings.  I read to my boys almost every night before bed.  We have recently been enjoying "Charlotte's Web" together.  Tonight as I finished reading a chapter, Matthew quietly said, "Mom, I love you so much.  And I love you in a special way.  One of the reasons I love you so much is because of how you read.  It's so nice and quiet and peaceful."  He followed that up with a big hug.  Wow! I didn't see that one coming.

I love you, too, Matthew and Jacob! I love you because you will still let me read you stories and ask me to sing you songs before nodding off to sleep. And for so many, many other reasons. 

Most nights I treasure that time reading with my boys.  However, some nights, I am ashamed to admit, I am eager to "get it over with", and get on with some personal time.  After Matthew's sweet comment though, I was reminded of what a precious time this is.  One day they will be too grown up to want me to read to them and sing them songs before bed.  Then I'll probably have too much personal time, and ache to read them one more story and sing one more lullaby. 

My girls have "grown up" and no longer require bedtime stories or bedtime songs before going to sleep.  However, once in a great while, often when things have been a little stressful or traumatic, one of them will ask me to sit or lie down on their bed and sing them songs.  They often want to me to sing the same songs I sang to them when they were little - songs that I learned from my parents. We've even read a book or two "together" since they've "grown up" - the girls drawing or knitting while I read out loud.  How grateful I am that this has always been a ritual for me and my children!  I think it  helps them feel safe and loved - at least I hope it does.  And, interestingly, it provides me with the same comfort.

My mom and dad both sang songs and read stories to me and my siblings before bedtime when we were young.  Dad often sang a silly song called "Piccadilly Circus" complete with silly voices, as well as several John Denver songs - my favorites being "For Baby" and "Lady".  He would tell us stories from his childhood that lived larger than life in my imagination.  Just ask me about "Peaches the Pig", or "Old Jim", or forgetting to turn the water off at the pig sty- fun stories there.  Mom sang "Jesus Once Was a Little Child", "Tell Me the Stories of Jesus", "Teach me to Walk in the Light", and "I Am a Child of God".  I think they were often in that order, too!  Mom would read stories and also relate experiences from her childhood. I remember how loved I felt  to have my mom and dad sit on my bed, rub my back, tell me stories, and sing songs to me.  I still feel so loved when I think of that time in my life.

I am grateful for such kind and loving parents who took time to do those little things with me.  I am grateful that I grew up thinking that all parents read and sing to their kids, and so when I had my own children, I naturally, carried on that tradition believing that that's just what parents do!  Those bedtimes blessed my life as a child, and are now blessing my life as an adult . . . and, I believe, blessing my kids, too.

Here's to many more bedtime songs and stories.  And to loving my amazing kids.  And to my wonderful parents.