the story goes something like this.  it is 6am

and despite the fact that i have 4 kids

i am still convinced

that this is way too early in the day

to be expected to be functional.

i can hear the water

running in the shower.

d is up and starting his day.

this is not quite as

impressive as it sounds.

he is a morning person,

after all, as are

both our sons

the oldest of which

is now quietly headed

down the hall to me

making the strongest effort

that a 5 yr old can make

to be gentle

as he leans his face

right up to my ear

and says, ‘mama, i need a stapler.  please!’.

this makes no sense to me,

but it’s morning

and i am the friend

you should call

round about midnight

as i am seriously

at the top

of my game

at that time of day

or i was

before i had kids

who woke me for staplers at 6am.

‘what is it that you want,

big boy?’

i ask my son

who diligently repeats,

(this would be the

earnest part)

‘a stapler, mama’.

‘what, praytell,

are you going to do

with a stapler?’, i say

with a great effort at

early morning logic.

he tips his head

thoughtfully and says,

‘i’m not sure yet,

but i know i’ll figure it out once you get me the stapler’.

i want to tell him that it does not work this way.

to explain how you get

the tools you need

for certain tasks,

not the other way around.

but a memory forms,

almost hovers,

before my eyes.

i am at my lys,

(even now

i can almost feel

the sweet fibers)

and i remember thinking

‘buy this and take it home,

only then will you know

what it will become’.

…like mother, like son.

this is what i am thinking, as i diligently

(and this would be the painstaking part)

separate myself from my bed, and hand in hand we go downstairs to get the stapler.

‘diligent’ taken from 10:4 of proverbs.