Sunday unfurls as the cat burrows under the blankets and
nips gently on my leg “It’s about to begin” he whispers, “get up and watch the
sunrise with me.” I stretch and rise, reluctantly but awake none the less.
We pad to the kitchen, I brew coffee and lift the living
room blinds just enough for Curious to perch on the sill and check on the
outside world. Satisfied he trips gently across the piano keys, the devil, on
route to a freshly filled breakfast bowl; a little musical interlude of
gratitude, perhaps just loud enough to wake another.
In the corner of my eye a sleepy ruffle headed boy crosses
the hallway to wipe the sand from his eyes before joining me on the couch. He
snuggles his pillow wrinkled cheek soft against my arm and yawns a “Morning
Mom” his breath warming the backside of my coffee hugging hand. These days are
not long.
Before they become a creaking downstairs door and quiet
footsteps that ascend in search of a shower and toast before work. A gentle
quiet smile for mom and a snuggle for Curious, who knows he cannot be resisted,
and soaks up a tender good morning nuzzle from the girl who brought him home. These
days have come too soon.
From when not long ago she, like her sister, would protest
an early end to slumber a little too emphatically to match the glimmer in her
eye. It’s so early on a Sunday for a perfect outfit and well styled hair. A ‘see
ya’ thrown over her shoulder to mom as she bounces out the door to her knight
in shining armour with the engine running. There is a promised day of adventure
ahead.
I rise to refill my coffee mug and I count quietly the years
since those days were ours. I wander to close the bedroom door against the
noise of the wakened day. Glory the vision that greets me; my love, lazing
peacefully in a bed of tangled sheets. I smile at the way he uses up every inch
of space and at the content that lingers on his face even as he sleeps.
I pause to love this moment as I watch his breathing rise
and fall. Around my ankle Curious circles and I reach down to pick him up. “Yes”
I whisper “my sunrise is a beautiful thing.”
