By Cherie Spehar, March 2007
Today I was cuddling with my baby boy after having been away from him the past two days. He had just fallen asleep and it was so tempting to close my eyes for the briefest moment...but something moved me as I gazed down at his sweet face, and I found myself Willing. Time. To. Stop.
I caught my breath, taking in the swell of his cheeks, the shape of him.
With awe, I found myself memorizing the gentle upward curl of his unfurling eyelashes, finally taking a breath deep enough to smell that familiar and heavenly baby scent that can't ever be duplicated.
Yet another deep breath, noticing the feel of his hand against my chest.
And then I saw the gentle drop of my own tears falling onto that precious hand.
For in this brief moment, it brought my world back into balance, and restored the chaos in my mind. It would have been easy to just keep getting through the day, closing my eyes and thinking about all the things that needed to be done as soon as I set him down to sleep. But the gentle whisper of,
"Wait, not yet. Look at him. He is a reason for your being,"
pulled at my heart and led me to experience a moment of indescribable joy,
and even peace in my world.
I realized I had just created a memory that I can forever preserve
in the secret places of my heart.
A memory so vivid that it won't blur as easily with the passage of time.
And, I believe that in that brief moment, time did stop. The swiftly passing minutes, at least in my world, were suspended in complete timelessness.
It was a gift, this moment, where a small glance at the face of a sleeping baby turned into infinity where nothing existed but love.
