Teaching my children the language of Love
Sunday March 24, 2019 | Santa Monica, California
My two year old falls asleep at night and says to me, “ten yoona-vussses.” And my head scrunches until it lands in recognition of the communication between mother and child, knowing after a moment, exactly what she means and why. My heart floods with joy.
Because of this. My six year old’s love proclamations go something like this:
“I love you more than the whole entire universe. More than new york city, More than all the skyscrapers.
I Love you more than ten universes, ten thousand universes, more than anything, more than that.”
And as I sit hear writing this, having just felt a few short moments ago that I’m leaving no physical imprint on this artist life of mine, I realize this is it.
That the love I have for my children and that they have for me, this is it. It may not be in ink or paint and we might not be able to hang it on the wall of a museum or find it on a NYT bestseller’s list. But it’s here and now in my children’s hearts, in their already complete hearts and souls. This is enough, I am enough. And they, they are more than enough. They are whole.
May 18, 2021 | Amherst, Massachusetts
Finding this piece of writing makes me smile on the inside. A glow of peace and joy. We still speak this language, the language of love, every single night. I kiss my sweet boy’s forehead every single night. And my sweet girl’s. It’s our thing. I go back and forth between their beds that are parallel in their shared bedroom. Sometimes I tell my son, “this kiss is the period on the end of the sentence of today.” He doesn’t respond to that one. I know he feels it. He doesn’t need to say a word. He feels it, experientially. The love of his mother.
No matter what happens in a day we always end it with love. He is still repeating back to me the “ten universes” I wrote of years ago. In his own 8.5 year old way. I tell him I love him more every minute, that I love him exactly the way he is. At night is when I say the things. All day I live the things. doing my best to show up with compassion and wholeheartedness, embracing all the feelings and sounds and duties of motherhood.
“You love me a quarter of the universe more every minute.” Yes, that’s exactly right. As if there’s a precision to the vastness of my love.
My daughter hears all this, absorbing it in her own way. She and I have different conversations, infinitely magic in their own unique ways. I’ll share those here too.
It feels so good to be sharing from the vaults of my heart and from the vision of my soul. This, too, is the imprint of this artist life of mine.
How do you share your love with the world?
Are there words for it? Or is it the way you live? Serve? Give? Show up?
There are so many ways to share you love. Yours is so important. Share it. Be it.