Under My Bed

Tonight I decided our room needed a good cleaning, the kind of clean where you move the furniture, sweep under the bed, polish everything, hang all the clothes that were missed while putting away laundry. That kind of cleaning.

As I was moving our bed to the other side of the room I couldn't believe what had collected under it. I remember groaning inwardly, thinking I would never get through the mess that lived under there. Then I decided to take a closer look. There was a mountain of odds and ends, but mostly it was toys and projects that our children had either made for us or brought in for us to see and keep.

One afternoon I escaped to our room so I could read uninterrupted, Jonathan eventually sought  me out and brought in his own book. While I was relaxing quietly reading I looked over and there was Jonathan, all snuggled in on Scott's side of the bed doing same thing I was.

There were pieces of paper with carefully constructed bubble letters reading "Daddy" and "Mommy" that Destyni deemed necessary for us to put on our own side of the bed.

I found a plethora of little toys that Alyson loves to bring into our room and sit upon our bed, playing with them while I hang up the clothes from the laundry.

There were heaps of socks-- fresh, clean, folded socks from the fights that Scott has on the weekend with the kids. He grabs as many pairs of socks as he can out of his dresser and pelts our kids with them, until they collect enough and release their own little mini army of flying socks.

There is a small mountain of books that always find their way into our beds on Saturday mornings, only to be left there and ignored the rest of the weekend, while we fill our days with whatever comes our way.

As I was putting away the medley of things, I couldn't help but let my mind drift to the future, When all of those toys and easy reading books become a part of our pasts. What will be under our bed then, magazines on how to raise teenagers, receipts for drivers ed, university brochures, or a dry cleaning bill for a prom dress?

I hope that the years will go by slowly, I hope that under my bed will always live the magic and enchantment that comes with childhood. For now, dear dust bunnies, take good care of what is being left there, because these memories are quite important to me.