5 More Minutes, Mom...

After unexpectedly waking early this morning, unexpectedly finding myself speaking to someone quite interesting, instead of going back to sleep, I grabbed a plus-sized bowl of Little Miss's favorite cereal, which happened to be on the shelf at 'grannies' house.


Last night, I was still so sick from the horrible car ride back from the city. I was overwhelmed with so much pain in my head and neck from the jolting and activities from the day. So, when I saw Little Miss's cup, perched up in 'Grannies' cabinet, with the green Grinchy face on it, staring back at me, I found myself mixed between both the ’sads’ and the ‘haps’ as I reached only for it, to take my medicine.

My little girl always helps make me better.


This morning, over the fruity ball cereal, I catch a glimpse of the grinchy face, and I just smile, as I feel a little tingle in my heart. She may be hundreds of miles away, and likely still sound asleep, but my little girl is with me this morning.


So, I take that feeling to the back porch, eat my cereal, and enjoy the view...



Then I went back inside to lay back down. As I laid there on the couch, a million thoughts ran though my mind, from the unexpectedly lovely conversation I'd had, to the unexpectedly okay reaction to ‘Grinchy’ in addition to the peaceful bowl of fruity balls. All of these wrapped together with a cow- choir accompaniment.

Somewhere in between all of these, I managed to drift back off to sleep, which was okay, as I knew my alarm was still set. Since I was so far out, I’d set them, not only for my target wakeup time, but also my "you should be rolling out now" time (aka: the move your ass / backup alarm).


It felt like I'd only been back asleep for a fraction of a moment. However, that fraction of a moment was all it took for that dream to begin. Whereas I don't know what lawn I was sitting on in the dream, I was sitting outside on the grass, talking to someone, when a van pulled up. Of course, in my dream, I have excellent eyesight, so, even without my glasses, I could clearly see the identity of the three people who were riding inside the minivan. In the very center, unable to wait until the van had been pulled into park, before removing his seatbelt and stepping forward to look out the front windshield, was my 10 yr old Little Mister. His 7 year old sister, my Little Miss, on his left, and my young sir, aged 17, on his right.


There, in my dream, seated on the grass, mid-sentence of my conversation, I stopped, and stared in disbelief and excitement, simply stunned at the beautiful sight before my eyes.

Before I knew it, my Little Mister was directly in front of me, and had basically tackled me on the ground, hugging me. It was the greatest, most incredible feeling in creation. There in my dream, I felt as if my heart were truly going to burst with the amount of love and happiness that I felt in that very moment to have him in my arms.

As my Little Miss approached me, to hug me the same...


My alarm sounded so terribly loudly and woke me.


My Aunt, who I call ‘Mom’, called out to me to let me know that my alarm was sounding. She wanted to make sure I didn't miss it and end up running late for work, bless her heart.


And just like that, like a fart in the wind, the most incredible feeling in creation disappeared, and with real-life, empty arms, my heart sank...


If ever there were a moment in my life where I'd wished, with every fiber in my being, to have had 5 more minutes, Mom...