4 things

It's Monday. Blah. No one really likes Mondays, right? So I thought I'd share something upbeat... a few little stories of things that have touched my heart recently.

1. We went for a walk as a family on Friday evening. Ari has a giant red wagon that we always bring with us, so she has something to ride in when she gets tired. When she does want to walk, she usually insists on pulling the wagon, which is fine with us. She was doing that on Friday, kind of running a little, when she tripped and fell. Her hand had gotten trapped under her body and taken the brunt of the hit, so 2 of her knuckles were scraped pretty badly and bleeding. Of course, she was crying and sobbing, and we had nothing with us--I didn't even have any tissues in my pocket. And we were a good distance from our house. We tried to calm her down, cuddling her and then sitting her in the wagon and continuing to walk, but she just kept crying and bleeding. I was thisclose to using the hem of my own shirt to sop up the blood on her fingers. Then Tony spotted a woman sitting out on her porch and asked her if she possibly had a tissue or papertowel or something, explaining that our daughter had scraped her hand. She scurried inside quickly, and came back out with a few papertowels, an entire box of band-aids, and a bag of chocolates for Ari. She was SO nice. We blotted the blood with the papertowels, then bandaged up Ari's fingers, and once Ari stopped crying, she started interrogating the lady (a sure sign she was feeling better)... "What's your name? Do you have any brothers or sisters? Where are your sons? When will they be home?" The lady gave us a couple extra papertowels and a whole bunch of extra band-aids, and even kissed Ari on the forehead as we left. It was so sweet, and I was so touched by her kindness. She told Ari that her 2 sons were all grown-up (in their 20s), so I'm sure she loved having a little kid to fuss over. I wish I could remember what house was hers, to thank her.

2. Later Friday night, I was at the computer working on church-related stuff, and Tony was out in the living room watching TV. My phone buzzed with a text message... from Tony. He wrote: "I love you so much... You are my best friend. My soulmate. My wife. My lover. My one and only. My true love. I am so blessed to be married to you. I LOVE YOU!!" When I mentioned it to him, he tried to act like he didn't know what I was talking about, silly boy. The next day, we were at the wedding of a couple friends of ours, and he kept looking at me with this look in his eyes... and kept stealing kisses throughout the day. Weddings make us BOTH sappy, I guess.

3. I had just stumbled out of bed on Sunday morning, and was barely even awake, when Ari joined me in the bathroom. She, of course, had already been awake for a good half-hour or so (but even still, she's totally the type who wakes up fully alive and alert in the mornings). She came over to me and stood in front of me for a moment. "Mama," she cooed... and man, I wish you could hear the way she says that sometimes. It's the sweetest, most loving tone. Anyway, as she said that, she wrapped her arms around me and I asked, "What, sweets?" She sighed a happy little sigh and added, "I miss you, Mama. And I love you." Just totally out of nowhere. Not sure why she was saying she missed me, since she'd been lying beside me in bed not 2 minutes earlier, but the "I love you" was especially precious. There's nothing--nothing--like an unprompted "I love you" from someone you adore.

4. And last, but not least... a friend of mine here at work brings me chocolate every Monday, and he just delivered my weekly fix... today, I got 2. Dove dark chocolate. Mmm. I know it's such a small thing, but it makes me smile every time. It really is the little things.