Memories to keep

It's been a couple weeks since we've seen William. He seems to grown up suddenly. He went to church with me, and was really quite good. They have a nursery, but since it was a new place to him (and because I see him rarely) I just couldn't bring myself to take him there. I did not want him to be afraid.

I packed him an activity bag, with stickers, and paper, and crayons, a shape puzzle, and a few little snacks. He entertained himself quite nicely, and when he got tired, he climbed up on my lap. A couple times he spoke in his normal voice and I whispered back that this was 'a whispering time' which seemed to fascinate him. He whispered against my neck. It was all good, until he was looking through his little activity bag and found a tiny bunny wrapped in tin foil. He held it aloft and bellowed "Choclack!" I tried to shush him, but he was pretty excited and hollered it once or twice more just to be sure that I knew he'd found 'choclack'.

He is, after all, his granny's child, I guess.

We had a day of adventures, a big red bouncing ball, a hair cut, 'hotgogs' for lunch. We were walking up the middle of the mall, and he was holding my hand. We stopped to admire an Easter display, and I wondered aloud where grandpa had gotten off to. He squinched up his little face and said, in a very definate voice, "Gompa in car." It made me smile, that we were carrying on an actual conversation.

"No, I don't think so," I said, and we walked to the middle of the mall to stare down the concourse. "There he is!" I said, and William looked and, sure enough, there he was. He took off running to him. He got there and leaned against his leg as Tim reached down to ruffle his hair. Then William turned towards me and came running back, a smile as big as his face, his arms thrown wide and his head back.

Out of nowhere it came, hitting me hard. It will not be like this forever. Everything changes. And I dropped to my knees and threw my own arms wide and he ran into them giggling wildly. I wanted to save the moment forever.

I'm glad I know how to write.