About LEGO Dragons and Daily Connection

At 8:00 at night, I was exhausted. My older son had woken me in middle of the night last night for a drink, and I had to set my alarm clock to get up for work because vacation was over…It was a busy day at work; there was snow on the road, and my kid’s bus was almost an hour late…I was almost ready for an adult-size meltdown.

Then at 8:00, my younger son reminded me that I hadn’t given him a kiss all day! I paused, and instead of reminding him to hurry up with his dinner because I needed him to get to bed so that I could FINALLY have some quiet time, I looked at his chocolatey eyes and remembered that he had been sleeping when I left the house in the morning. And that when we came home, I had been so busy bringing in the mail and putting things away and making dinner and pulling out their homework.

I still don’t fully understand how it is that I made it until 8:00 without giving him and his brother a kiss, a hug, a cuddle…. Just one day into my going back to work and my priorities seem to have been washed away with all that I juggle between work and home…. I had refused to help them find the LEGO pieces that they wanted, as I was busy with VERY IMPORTANT THINGS like laundry, dishes, dinner, cleaning, more laundry….

But after smothering my little one with kisses, we sat down to read his favorite book and then to sing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” as a parody; I change up the words every night to make it “funny”. I love to hear him giggle when I do that, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Bus, How I wonder what’s your rush”…Then as he drifted off to sleep, I thought that I could forgive myself for seizing the moment and connecting with him, even if it was 8:00 at night. A scary thought passed through my mind; are there days when I may not have connected with my boys at all, and they just didn’t know how to express that to me? What would have happened if 8:00 would have came and went, and he wouldn’t have reminded me to give him a kiss?

Then my older son called me to look at his LEGO dragon, and I was quick to come and check it out and admire his handiwork. Then it was time to add hot water to his tea that had cooled down while he had created his LEGO masterpiece, to say bedtime prayers with him, massage his back, answer his question about whether Purim happens each year on the 13th day of Adar in the Jewish lunar calendar, and discuss what his school is doing in preparation for this Holiday….

I still feel that I’m missing something in this process…that I’m so busy rushing my kids along on this bus of life, and that there are or may be many moments that have passed by. Maybe I need to pause more often, look out the window more often, inspect LEGO dragons as they are built, and be sure to reach for my loved ones as we travel together on this journey called life.