Reflections In Bed, Thankfully

I've been ill for a number of weeks now but the past week really laid me low. I literally had to stay in bed for a week and that was no fun. Especially with my kids pleading that I get up and play with them and all I could manage was, "I'm sorry, darling, honey. Mom is sick. Mom is dizzy so Mom has to stay in bed." As is usual for kids that small, they really don't want to miss any opportunity to be with their parent so, as expected, they just played in my room as I slept, so they could stay near me.

 

So while I was in bed, I did some reflecting. Regretting, actually. Of what I should've done... and shouldn't have done. There is something about being sick that really makes you hit rock bottom and makes you feel like you are already standing at the very edge of a cliff.

 

And then those little voices--those sweet voices--would snap me out of such dark thoughts and demand, "Mom! Look at me! Am I pretty? Huh, huh? Am I pretty?" "Mom! Tell Auntie that we are missing! We're hiding. Find us! Peek-a-boo!" "Mom! No more sleeping! Smile! Picture, picture!" "Mom! Look! I'm dancing!" And so on and so forth. 

 

How could you not want to go on after all that? Day after day, they would faithfully climb up my bed and demand that I look at them, that I observe them, that I watch them. And day after day, I realize that it's not really all true that it is just us, parents, who teach our kids about life. There is much that we can learn from our little ones. About how wonderful it is to be needed. About how amazing it is to be alive. And about how precious the passing of every second is. (Oh, and about how adorable little high voices can be.)

 

So here I am typing my reflections in bed, thankfully.