The Gift of Children

Psalms 127:3 reads, “Children are a gift from the LORD; they are a reward from him.” No day is all good or all bad. Each day is a mixture of reward and punishment. The punishment part coming, undoubtedly, from how beastly Elise and I must have been to our parents. But it’s funny, sometimes, to think—especially in the midst of one or both of them having a complete meltdown as happened yesterday during baths when they were fighting over a water bottle—that most people think of children as a gift. But there are also definitely moments when this is easy to remember.

For instance, Pete’s goodnight kisses. They are soft and wet like a puppy dog’s nose and could not be more sincere. We got four the other night. Two for me and two for Elise. We had been encouraging Pete to give goodbye kisses when Elise leaves the house for a photo shoot or to run errands and or I go to work. But on his own, he asked one day, “Hug?” And followed the kiss with a big, two-armed embrace. These sappy moments are the ones in which one truly feels as though they are receiving a gift.

As part of prayers, I ask the boys what they want to dream about, so that we can ask God to help us dream about those things. I read once that if you want to dream about flying—because, of course, that’s what I want to dream about—you tell yourself over and over throughout the day that you want to fly tonight. The theory goes that if you say it enough, the thought of flying becomes imbedded into your subconscious and manifests itself in your dreams. Maybe if I ask the boys what they want to dream about, they will dream about Dinosaur Train Land and choo-choos instead of the mask from the movie ‘Scream’ with fake blood pouring out of it that Sam saw trick-or-treating and pretty much put an end to that.

Last night, when I asked the boys what they wanted to dream about, Pete replied, “Mama,” and Sam replied, “Tiny little poo-poo head” or something equally inappropriate. Then, Sam asked Elise and I what we wanted to dream about. I said I wanted to dream about super-heroes and Elise (mom) wanted to dream about a back massage. See? Little gifts.