Story Time

This evening I pulled into my parents driveway, exhausted and in need of my mother.  Christian had spent a large portion of our almost three hour trip screaming bloody murder.  Thankfully, both children finally fell asleep and, by the time we got to the house they were awake and happy.  They played with my mom as I unloaded the car and we all had dinner together.  I fell into the easy relaxation that having grandparents around provides.  

This trip, unfortunately, is not simply for pleasure.  Tomorrow is Christian’s MRI, which we are very much looking forward to the results of, but which I have been dreading.  Christian will have to be under anesthesia for 45 minutes so he doesn’t move during the MRI.  Even though I know it will be under completely different circumstances, I have had a hard time separating this from the only other encounter Christian had had with anesthesia.  I am referring to my emergency cesarean which lead to him going without oxygen for approximately five minutes.  This MRI may give us a lot of information about the future for Christian, so I am trying to move past all scary thoughts and focus on the benefits.  

One of the positives is spending time with their Tutu, my mother.  Once the kids were in their jammies tonight, they cuddled up with my mom to read books.  Tessie chose a “Peter Pan” book that was my favorite as a little girl.  It is a rather long book, and my mother looked a little concerned, but I assured her she could abbreviate and just describe the pictures.  As she started to read I gathered up our things for the morning so Christian and I could be off to an early start.  Once I had everything set I laid down on the bed and listened to the story.  I had to keep myself from laughing.  My mom had gotten so caught up in the story that her version was actually taking longer than if she had read every word.  She was waving her arms around and the kids were enraptured.  

For a moment I could let all of my anxiety about the upcoming appointment disappear.  Tessie’s mouth was stuck in a silent “O” and Christian was listening to every word with a serious concentration.  No one else was concerned with what was happening in the morning, they were all simply enjoying the right now.  I let myself sink into this moment, and recognize it for what it was; a beautiful connection between my children and their grandmother.