Tender Moments

This post can be filed under the tiny little moments that make up a lifetime of love.

When the children were wee nubbins, we were co-sleepers. Our bedroom was a great pile of mattresses, ready for wrestling, snuggling, and sleeping.

Here's some intense wrestling action from The Big Yellow House.

As you can see, two queen mattresses provide ample space for kids, pets, and take downs.

This photo was from the Reston condo and it tells quite a story.

The two queen mattresses again. Buster sacked out with a tractor, and the piles of books at the end of the bed indicate this was the week Jenny and I decided all the books and bookshelves needed to move from a bedroom upstairs down to the dining room downstairs. Oof, that was a load.

But I digress.

We started out as co-sleepers.

Then when the children moved to their own beds and rooms, each had a different way we would help them fall asleep. It might be just sitting near by, it might be snuggling up in bed and rocking them, back to back. Monkey has long listened to stories as she sleeps, and her siblings followed along.

As they aged, Buds and I were heading to bed before them. They would pop in to tell us good night.

That has faded away and the nighttime ritual has now been for me to hunt down each of them before I curl up in bed. Getting and giving the hugs and kisses I still adore.

I have loved all of these rituals. And then, every once in awhile, we harken back to the old days of all piling in together before bed, and my heart fills with the reminder of those sweet, snuggly bodies, all those years ago.

It started out with Buster and Yessa cuddling in while Buds and Monkey worked downstairs on a presentation for Monkey's class.

Then with Monkey's project complete, up came Buds, Monkey, and Mocha.

We could have fit the cats, too, but they weren't interested.

The bodies have grown and it's now a king-sized bed, but the delight in these moments still fills my soul.