Finding Joy in Snarkville

Today, Duke turned three. It was a glorious day filled with the joy that three should hold. One of the neatest parts was Duke being surrounded by the people who love him the most in this world. Oh, the joy. We did have some plans change, and I’m still not 100% sure I agreed to him turning three — but he is a big boy now, telling me as he curled up in my arms that today was the “bestest day.”

I sniffed his hair and thought, “Sweetie, you are right, today was great. But there is another day that I think of as being the bestest.” I’ve thought about it all day, “Where were we three years ago.” I thought about leaving to head to the hospital. I thought about my chat with my mother at 4am — one of those rights of passage with one’s mother, the bonding that only mothers and daughters can do when both change roles. I thought about watching my son’s birth in the reflection of my mother’s glasses — thinking how neat it was to see my son through the eyes of another so young. I thought about holding him in my arms seconds after he was born. I thought about Prince’s face when he became a father. I thought about my father walking in the room and falling in love with his new best friend (a bond that has just grown over three years).

But mostly I thought about the promises I made into his hair that first night. While I hope all mothers make the promises to be the best mother I can be, I promised to give my son the gift of great love. I promised to protect him from all the evil I can control. I promise to raise him to the best of my ability and with his father we will give him all he needs.

It has been three years and the Prince and I are tired. We have kept our promises and will continue to keep them. Those of my friends with older kids tell me to wait that the best is yet to come. But today my little boy is not a baby, not even a toddler, he is firmly into being a child, my child, and that look of pride and joy on my face — is well earned.

(Thanks for the endurance of the sappy post. Back to your normal snark tomorrow.)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 8th, 2006 at 12:10 pm and is filed under This Child of Mine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.