Sleep, Baby, Sleep

I spent far too long tonight attempting to get my little one to go to sleep and stay asleep. Fortunately, his grandpa was there to work his magic and get him to dreamland, so it all ended well. But while I was carrying the boy, swaying back and forth while holding him so that he could stare at the mesmerizing ceiling fan, I thought about how precious these moments really are. Most of the time, I'm so tired that I am impatient, in a hurry to get them over with, and I fail to appreciate what it really means to hold a precious life in my arms. I might as well cherish these times, since I am apparently destined to never forget them: Thirty-one years after the fact, my mother still makes a point of reminiscing about my own refusal to sleep as a baby.

Holding a baby, nuzzling the oh-so-soft neck, hearing the laughs that are like enchanted fairy bugles... these are the sweetest of life's simple pleasures.