coloring outside the lines

i sit here listening to the slow guitar of angus & julia,  

the smell of toasted almond fills the air.

i just built a fort for my boy under our kitchen table, 

hoping that i could sneak away for just a moment of mommy time.

before long, 

i hear the sound of a chair being drug across the floor from the kitchen table.

my little boy wants to sit close as i read my bible this morning.

i watch him load his little red truck with crayons

and he asks me to trace his chubby little hand with a bright blue crayon.

we soak up a moment in the rare slowness of this morning,

just the two of us.

there once was a time

when i asked makai to be careful,

to not get crayon on my desk.

then in this very spot we started making memories.

one day,

when my little boy no longer wants to sit close,

when the colorful crayon scribbles

 that cover the far right corner of the desk

become just a memory,

i will smile

remembering the times i let him color outside the lines.