V's Version

The last thing he said before he drifted off to sleep was, "Are roller coasters held on by momentum?"

Because I did not know the answer, I said so and we contemplated it all in the quiet of his room - with only the dim light of his shaggy dog night light and the tick tock of his alarm clock to hold us in the day. It wasn't enough and soon he had the soft rythmic sound of a boy crashed from sugar, soccer and typing as a new skill.

On nights that Dani stays in San Francisco, Pk and I pile in together (usually in his bed) with both whippets under the down comforter. We do all the things we have done for years and years in family bed. We draw on each other's backs and guess what the drawings are. We sing songs with made up words. We get to ask a question - any question at all. We tell stories and laugh and wrestle and settle and snuggle.

I'm noticing lately that the songs have become more complex. The stories have plots. The drawings are harder to decipher and the questions more poinant. I am grateful for the tender moments of requested touch - when I stroke his hair after a long day or scratch his back just because it feels so good to him with my long nails. I do not think for one minute that I will always be asked questions or that he will answer mine so willingly. But, for now, it is a sweet time of closeness as he matures more and more each day.

Did I mention that I adore being a mother? Every stage of mothering is so completely different.

"Beyond the Sixth" is in New Orleans. I'll get pix up soon and maybe even an ameteur YouTube clip!