When I Was King...

   It's much more quiet in the house.  Kevin and I have time to devote to some of our own passions, favorite things to do.  Now I'm starting to realize what that "look" the women at church would give us when we would walk in for mass really meant.  I think it meant, "Your boys are so cute and you are so lucky you are in the midst of that 'busy' family time!  I envy your life right now."  I could be wrong, maybe it was "I am so very glad I'm not you," but I don't think so.  You know why?  Because I'm them now.  I see families in church with young children and although there are times when I'm thinking, "I'm glad I'm done with those years," more often I'm thinking to myself,  "Your boys are so cute and you are so lucky you are in the midst of that 'busy' family time!  I envy your life right now." I admit it, I wish I was in that place again, only with more awareness of what it means.
   Kev and I think back to the time when our boys were young and so full of love for us.  We were the world to them.  Kevin fondly refers to it as, "When I was King"!  He used to come through the door, home from work, and the boys would shout, "Daddy's home" and they would throw caution to the wind and go bounding toward him and plop themselves in his arms.  He barely had time to set his lunch bucket down!  Not once did I see him display any emotion but pure joy when that time of the day came crashing into his life!  He would oblige them, tickle them, and usually herd them into the living room where reckless abandon would ensue!  A blanket was placed on the floor (Kevin was a wrestler in high school, so my thinking is he thought this took the place of the wrestling mat he used to roll around on) and as soon as he was on his knees, they were on him.  The giggles were constant, the play was gentle but exhausting, and it usually didn't stop until I shouted out that dinner was ready.  A few times I hid around the corner and I bellowed in my Iowa "husband calling contest" voice, and the boys would belly laugh! 
   The pure joy they knew, the love shared on that blanket, is something so fleeting you don't even comprehend it, until it's gone forever.  One cannot get back that kind of sincere, honest love that exists with boys so young.  Now when we see a young boy, with his dad, joyfully playing or laughing, Kevin will lean over and whisper into my ear, I remember when I was king.......