getting what you need

My niece Piper was visiting us this weekend.  So I didn’t blog or really look at the blogosphere much.  And that was just fine with me.

Because I needed …. something else altogether.

I needed to twirl until I was dizzy, crazily spinning back time to when I  was four years old.

I needed to jump madly on the bed, my  bed, and not care one whit how messy it got.

I needed to blow bubbles in the park, giggling as she tirelessly chased them down across the wet, squishy grass.

Then I needed to watch, bursting with pride, as she gave the rest of her "bubble juice" to another little girl in the park who didn’t have any "bubble juice." 

I needed to lose every wretched, mind-numbing game of Candyland to a certain cherubic cheater.   

I needed to sit at the kitchen table with her, globbing paint on cheap little wooden gliders. 

Then I needed to comfort her when hers broke immediately thereafter, telling her she could have Tee Tee’s plane.

Then, again, I needed to console her when that one crashed into the monkey bars, shattering, after its ill-fated first flight in the park.

I needed to be enchanted as my beautiful friend, arms outstretched to Piper, led her to dance freely before the Lord during worship.

And I needed to dance with them.

I needed to run, run, run along the pier, faster than the waves, with the salt air sharp in my nostrils and the wind ferocious in my hair.

I needed to stand at ocean’s edge with her, breathless for the next insolent wave to soak through our properly rolled-up jeans.

Then I needed to stroll, unashamed, down the street in my soggy, sandy clothes, slurping up ice cream … with rainbow sprinkles.

I needed to laugh deliriously with her when the lazy Kodiak bear at the zoo finally roused himself from slumber only to relieve himself right in front of us.

I needed to run away from the pushy, icky goat at the petting zoo because, well, I’m afraid of goats.  But she isn’t, so she laughed at me.

I needed to give her "some pwivacy" when she showered.  And then be ready when she called for help 10 seconds later.

I needed to lie in bed face to face at bedtime while I stroked her arms and she chattered about her busy day.

Then I needed to tell her how much Jesus just adores her.

Then I needed, but didn’t know I needed, to have my four-year-old niece pat my cheek and say, "Tee Tee, you’re such a cutie-pie."

I needed to lose sleep as she snoringly slept on top of me — or glued to my back — no matter what I did or how I maneuvered.

But I also needed to sleep holding hands, like hobbits, because she likes to sleep that way.

And I needed to wake up the next day to her smiling, pillow-smushed cheeks to do it all over again.   

I needed to be something I may never be — a mom.  

Just a fleeting taste of that blessed, everyday sweetness.

And sweetness is a precious commodity in this place, in these times. 

So I need to keep thankfulness on my lips  … always … for sweetness such as this …

"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good."  Psalm 107:1