Childhoodtake2!

Every Friday we unite for five minutes to write on one word. Only five minutes, that's all we get, that's all we have. And then, right where we are, no edits or second-thoughts, we publish those words. This week, we write on Together

Go.

For nine years, it was just the three of us. This little family that had me, my person, and a sweet little puppy I still consider having started my mothering career.

And then, just like you said I would, you talked me into them. You told me that we would be parents and we would be amazing and we would love them.

You told me that they would drive us to drink, drive us apart, drive us together, build us up, make us whole, make us a loving family. We would be parents to two little people and they would be our children. You told me that we would still love Mia, still hold her and tell her how much she means to us, you told me it wouldn't ruin our marriage, or us. And so, today, our together looks so much different. In the four years that have passed, we are now a small family of five (because Mia still counts). Our together consists of family movie night, and Friday night pizza, and balancing our jobs, and the kids, and us. Our together consists of having dinner as a family every night, and bath time, and packing of bags to start the next day.

But, we know that at the end of this lifetime, together is what we will always have. When the house is too quiet and we are staring at our wrinkled faces, we will ache for the days together when we were were five.

Stop.