My heart breaks when I watch my child sleep.

He still slumbers with the abandon

of childhood innocence,

body sprawled akimbo

star-fished on the bed.

I listen to him breathe, I whisper love

and then I leave the room

and press my forehead to the door

as I close it.

I say the only prayer I know

thank you, thank you,

thank you.

When the days are too long

and my limbs seem stretched in every direction

and I am scared and overwhelmed

I remember the words and repeat them.

The yin and yang, the dark and light,

the hard days alongside the easy ones,

I am here  (miracle of miracles)

for all of them.

May I never get so comfortable

that I forget this is a gift.

Relephant Read: 

The Coolest Thing about Gratitude.

~

Author: Keeley Milne

Editor: Caroline Beaton

Photos: Giacomo Carema/Flickr, Pixoto