Place

Friday mornings are my favorite place, right now. I say place, because they've become this familiar routine where I feel a little like I've escaped something.

Early on Friday mornings, Ellie slips from her bed and pads over to my room in time to catch me emerging from the bathroom. While I'm freshly showered and ready for my day, Ellie is still sleepy and happily complies with my request to snuggle. On Friday morning, we don't have anywhere to be. No commitment to rush off to, no obligation to fulfill. Our pace can be as relaxed as we'd like it to be.

The details vary; sometimes she reads a book and sometimes she just tucks herself under my arm and burrows down into the covers. I always have a cup of coffee to sip on... she always asks for a sip herself. (Or as she calls it, a "soup" of coffee.) She always sips the steaming brew carefully and then giggles and licks her lips. It's always the same... and if I close my eyes now, I can see and hear her. That's a memory that I'd like to live with forever.

I say this is a place because it very much feels like one. It's not a time... or even a moment... it feels more permanent than a moment. It's a little like we need to meet in the place in order to properly finish out our week, just the two of us.

Being at home has been filled with trade-offs. Some of those trades have been easier to make than others. I know that this life is a journey and I know the time that I've been blessed to be here more for my little people may not last forever... but of the things that I've come to enjoy and really appreciate, today I say that Friday mornings might be the single best thing.

This morning we stayed in our little cocoon for nearly an hour and a half. Not once did I feel like I should be doing something else... there was no other place to be.

Then, with a little tummy grumbling and a brother to wake up, we got up to start our day. It was time to leave our place and start our day in earnest... although I'm sure we'll meet back there next week.