like a child

When my arm is across Brandon’s or Holden’s chest, I feel their hearts racing, running. I think, slow down, calm down, breathe. You’re running your little selves ragged, you’re so high strung, you chatter too much. 

I think all of these things while I drink my coffee, trying to stimulate myself.

I tell them not to interrupt when I read them books, but they have so much to say, so many questions. I think, as Brandon falls asleep in my arms: I used to wonder like that. I used to be amazed, think aloud. 

Maybe they don’t need to calm down. Maybe I need to get excited again. Maybe my heart should race and run all day until finally, at night, my chest heaves and my breathing slows and I fall into dreams which I believe because I am capable of something other than skepticism. 

I caught the sunset last night which did make my heart race, a smile spread across my face. I’ve still got it, I thought, although it is a minimal dose.

Over the weekend, I was playing a kids’ game on the iPad while I watched Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders and a woman on there said, “when you get comfortable, it’s time to try something new.” Yeah, like the next level, I thought, passing the last one.

But I knew what she meant: something that makes your heart race, your breathing shallow. Something that makes you giddy, something to chatter endlessly about. Something that makes you feel like a kid again: full of wonder and excitement.

Tonight I want to fall asleep next to my son, both of us exhausted, not because we survived a day but because we lived the motherfucking shit out of it.