Last Friday, after a long week of work and home schooling my little ones, my son asked me to cuddle with him before we left for his Dads house. 

I was feeling exhausted, like without a few nights of solid sleep to refresh myself, I would come close to running out of having anything to give. You know that feeling? 

So of course, I was all in for a good cuddle❤️

As I sat with him in the recliner, my arms wrapped tight around him, soaking up every ounce of cuddles I could get, we got to talking. 

He told me about the secret fort he made earlier that day in our side yard. He told me how proud he was of himself for finishing his school work by 11 AM that day. He told me 8,579 facts about sharks. 

✨We snuggled✨We laughed✨We talked✨

...Heaven...

Now, as a parent, I have been feeling this sense of worry like...Are my little ones OK now? Will they be OK through all of this? Do they feel disconnected? Do they feel stressed? Are they worrying too? 

Who’s with me? 🙋🏻‍♀️ 🙋🏾‍♂️

At one point, as I tried to gauge where he was at with this whole “situation”, I asked him, “What would you tell someone if they asked you why you can’t go to school right now or why everyone is staying home and things are closed?” He said to me, “Well I’d tell them that a lot of people are really sick and we don’t want to get sick and we don’t want to spread our germs and get someone else sick.” 

I thought to myself, OK...pretty good explanation. I’ll take it. He has an appropriate level of understanding for what’s happening in his 7 year old world. So far so good. 

So then I said to him, “But you must be sad that you don’t get to see your friends and your teachers at school or play with your friends every day huh? It must seem strange.” And he turned his head, looked at me, face to face, so innocently, and said to me without missing a beat. “No Mama. I get to see my friends and my teacher every morning on ZOOM! And it just means that I get to have more time with our family all together. It’s awesome actually!” 

Wait what?!? 🤯

I did NOT expect THAT answer...but let me tell you...hearing it, I just about melted. It was like this wave of relief washed over me...relief I didn’t even realize I needed to feel...and I thought to myself, OK...You’re doing something right Mama.  
...And I just hugged him so tight and smiled and said, “Yeah. It’s pretty awesome.” 

How beautiful? 

The innocence of a child...So simple.

💕A little human without the weight of the world on their shoulders. A little human knowing things are different than they were a few weeks ago, but feeling OK about it all. A little human so happy to get to spend more time with his family all together.💕

It was like a magic wand of clarity was waved in my face erasing the stress of my day to day work, the home schooling, this pandemic, all the heavy shit and noise around me...it all just magically disappeared...and things became crystal clear. 

They say our children are our greatest teachers. 
Ain’t that the truth...

I was taught once again by my very own child 
💥WHAT. REALLY. MATTERS.💥

Time all together...

Family.
Home. 
Health. 
Love. 
Community. 
Connection. 

I believe things here will get worse before they get better. BUT, I have also begun to see the light at the end of this long, dark tunnel we are all walking/crawling/existing/living through today. 

And when I can once again feel the warmth of that light shining down upon us, I will remember the simple mind of my child and the things that really matter along this journey we call life.