Thou Shalt Cuddle With Your Children.

I’m pretty sure that is the eleventh commandment.

Something about the safety of his own bed, the weight of his parent’s arm and the darkness of night that open’s a child’s mouth to divulge the deepest inter-workings of his mind. The request comes nightly with one of our children. Even though it is the most precious time in all of motherhood, the dishes, laundry, baby, shower all pull me in another direction. I wish I could accept his invitation every night, for I obtain the most valuable information and sustaining upliftment from each cuddle session.

Some kind of truth serum enters the blood stream at cuddle time. He tells me of things that were done or said that he seems uncertain about the appropriateness of. We discuss what is okay and what is not. I probe for more information and he willingly spills the dirt on everyone including himself.

He tells me of his lost sweetheart of 2 years, who has decided he is too naughty to marry and has turned her eyes to someone new. Then shares that he has a new prospect that he will have to marry because she is the only girl that likes him now. Her sister told him so at church and she hugged him once. He has come to accept it because she has a fast, black quad that runs on gas.

Last night was particularly entertaining. I climbed in his bed and after giving him a big hug, I said, “Thank you for being in my family.”

He laughed, “I am always in your family.”

I added, “Thank you for picking me to be your mommy.”

“How did I pick you?” he asked.

“In heaven, when we were picking mommies, you picked me,” I explained.

Not a second pause and he remembered; “Well, I almost picked Grandma.”

“So what made you pick me?” I had to know.

“Because you looked better.”

That’s it…sustaining upliftment, I am still smiling.