A Beautiful Moment

We have strayed so far from a regular schedule with the kids lately, but tonight we were actually able to put the kids to bed at their once regular times. Tyler had a really hard time settling down to go to sleep (very understandable given the day we've had). He kept popping out of bed with new requests or comments. At one point he came running excitedly out of the bedroom:

"Mommy! Can I go outside and see the writing in the sky? It looks like someone took a pink crayon and colored in the sky. It's so beautiful! Can I go see it?"

I gave in and took him out to see the sunset. We sat on the stoop and admired it together.

"Oh, Mommy! It's so beautiful. It's just so beautiful I could cry. It's so beautiful I could marry you here under the sunset."

"I'm already married, remember?"

"Oh yeah. (Hugs me) It's so beautiful I just want to cry."

And it really was that beautiful. All of it. Instead of blaring sirens and the thump of loud stereos, all we heard was the buzz of the streetlights flickering to life, the whirring of air conditioners, and the chirping of crickets. The rush of activity from the week was suddenly halted, and the stack of boxes waiting to be unpacked was momentarily forgotten. My son, who has been a ball of constant energy and senseless chatter, was silently cuddled up on my lap, and we were drinking in the moment together.

We sat there together as long as we could and watched the pink "writing" get brighter and then gradually fade away. It was just so beautiful I could cry.