Lightning Bugs

We sneaked kisses in between chopping and marinating and sidewalk chalk and fake plastic bowling. His lips smiled on mine as we stood, lingering, when she called out daaaaaaaaadcomehere! She wanted to show us the giant ant she found, and for me to help her fill the heart she had drawn on the driveway with pink chalk.

We sat on the concrete and she told me all about her day in between directing the grand illustration we were engaged in. He stood at the grill and watched, and when I looked up the held gaze and smile made it too easy to read what was in his heart. And mine, too. Later, later, she wanted me to help her with the nightly rituals and her wiry little girl body gave me a big hug before climbing into the shower. She sang loudly under the tap, and we stood in the living room listening, suspended in each other. A perfect moment. A pause, a slip, a thud, a silence and then crying and I watched as he ran to see what had happened. I watched as he performed a comedic assessment to make her laugh, and listened as his voice went soft as he asked her but you are okay, right? He was so young when his own father died, and I wondered how that influenced this perfect little vignette that I was thankful to be a part of.

I combed her hair when she got out and in her pink pajamas she put on a show for us and then nearly immediately fell asleep. We stayed, after she went to bed, and he put his arm around me and drew me close. Told me stories from his childhood, made plans for us to visit an old friend and said he had told her about me. When I laughed and could not imagine what she must already think based on his exaggerations, he turned serious for a moment and said he had never introduced her to anyone before and what that meant.

He kissed my forehead and pulled me in closer and with his lips next to my ear told me that when it's time for his long nap he is going to sit down on his bench and tell everyone that he's just waiting for me to get there, too. His way of telling me. His hand on my hand and the line where one started and the other stopped was blurred, electric current binding us to each other, blending everything.

My heart is full. Lord, thank You, because I know that I am not deserving of this much happiness on my merits alone.