Lately when Randy and I leave for work, poor little Malcolm goes through such a range of emotions. He first gets his little shoes and happily waddles to the door. He adorably assumes he’s coming with us and is so happy to be on his way. Then when I say goodbye and give him a hug and a kiss he looks at me for a minute trying to decide if I am trying to get him to wave or say his new work ‘Ba’ for bye. Then denial, he squares his little chin and marches for the door, determined to come with us and get out. Then the poor little guys realizes he’s being left behind. It’s pretty heart wrenching. His little face puckers up and the tears start.
With Malcolm being my second rodeo, I know that this stage is just that, a stage and soon enough he will run off with his friends barely waving goodbye like his older brother. In fact, today I knelt down to give Adam a hug goodbye when I dropped him at school and his reply was “I’m busy doing my work mom”, ok my little teenager.
I just recently came across this wonderful photo series. This photographer took a series of photos of his parents who always walk him to the door or car to say goodbye, and when his dad passed away his mom keep the goodbye tradition going- http://angelomerendino.com/goodbye-at-the-door/
It made me think about how quickly the day will come when Malcolm is walking out the door and we will be the ones left behind. He will ask to borrow the car, grab the keys, maybe if I’m lucky throw me a wave and head out to meet his friends, not remembering there was a time his little heart would break when his mommy was out of sight. Sigh. So I will take all the moments when I want to eat my breakfast and Malcolm insists on sitting on my lap or when both Adam and Malcolm want to sit on my lap and get mad at each other that they have to share, or when Malcolm wants to be picked up and gets crayons, mango or snots or all three all over my work clothes and I will treasure every moment and know that they are fleeting and soon enough I won’t be the one they want to spend their days with and I will have to work for little moments of attention in between teenager surliness and girlfriends and jobs and sports and whatever else having boys means is coming my way.
bosas-from-us.com 