I heard a small cough from the top of the stairs as I checked my purse to ensure it contained all of the necessities I would need for the day ahead. Up until that little cough the house was quiet; I was the only one awake.
He didn’t need to be up that early, not today. On a regular school day this was the time I would be kissing his cheek in his bed and he would be groaning for just “five more minutes.” Of course today, the day he could have five more minutes, he was awake anyway.
I turned my head to see him slowly making his way down the stairs, his blanket and favourite stuffed animal – a little brown bear wearing blue pajamas which he has named Toby – in one arm and the other bent slightly, rubbing the last remnants of sleep from his eyes.
“Hi Mama,” he said softly, a little smile on his lips. “I heard you and wanted to see you before you left.”
Wanted.
He got up out of his warm bed to walk down the stairs because he wanted to see me, to give me a hug and a kiss before I left for work.
He wanted to see me.
Most of my days are filled with people who need things from me; people who call me and email me and stop me in the hallway because they need me to do something, finish something, read something, find something.
But this morning, with the early sun streaming in the window, a little boy placed a sweet kiss on my cheek and wrapped me up in a hug and held on tight for almost a whole minute.
And he did it for no other reason than because he wanted to.
And I can’t even put into words how great it felt to be wanted.
Ack! So touching and sweet and now I am crying into my morning cup of coffee. What a soft and fuzzy post.
Good tears, I hope! I would hate to think I wrecked a good cup of coffee! ;o)
Tender tears of reckoning are trickling down my cheeks … my heart mirrors your desire to be wanted rather than needed. Beautiful …
It was so funny how the idea of being wanted struck me when he said it. What an amazing feeling it was, and so easy. It got me thinking about when the last time I was that I showed someone I love that they are wanted, rather than just needed. I’m going to try to pass the feeling along!
love love love this! such a good reminder about taking a moment to really let someone know how much they mean….needed that today x
It’s really such a simple thing to say – “I want to spend time with you” or “I want to hear what you have to say” and yet we don’t say it as often as we should – or at least I know I don’t. I’m going to try hard to say it more – now that I realize how good it feels to hear it!