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She smiles. “I love you, too.”
I find that as the days and weeks go by, I realize just how much my family means to me. I often catch myself staring at Sarah, Martin, and Ava, feeling a deep sense of love and gratitude for them. I realize my family is my everything and that I can’t imagine my life without them. They bring me joy, happiness, and a sense of purpose.
My home with them is my sanctuary, a place where I feel safe, secure, and loved. I know that I can always count on them to be there for me, no matter what. I start to appreciate the small moments of everyday life with them, like reading bedtime stories with Ava, cooking dinner with Sarah, or taking a walk together as a family. Those moments are what make life worth living.
I understand building a strong family takes time and effort, but that it’s worth it. I know we’ll face challenges along the way, but we’ll always have each other to rely on.
I am grateful and blessed to have such a loving and wonderful family; I know they’re the most essential priority in my life. I promise to always cherish and protect them and ensure our love and connection never fade.
Chapter Eleven
JACK
I’mwaitingoutsideMartin’skindergarten. Lately, Jack has gone back to working longer hours (something that he says is temporary. There’s a big merger happening), so pickup has become my job. I don’t mind it. I like seeing Martin’s happy face when he comes bounding out of school. Plus, I get dibs on hearing about his day.
The bell rings, and children come running out of the school. I watch anxiously for him (always there’s the fear that I won’t see him in the back of my mind), but then I see him running past his friends, his backpack bouncing along with his long blonde hair.
“Hey, big guy. How was school?” I ask him as I help him into his car seat.
“I got a star from Miss Pattinson,” he exclaims. He juts his wrist out at me, showing me the little golden star stuck to the back of his hand. His eyes are glittering and his smile’s a thousand megawatts.
“Wow,” I say. “That’s pretty cool!”
“Yeah,” he says, “I got it for being quiet and listening during storytime.”
“That’s awesome. I’m so proud of you!” I tell him, ruffling his blond hair affectionately.
“I’m going to show it to Daddy,” he responds excitedly.
As we head home, I make a stop at the supermarket to get a few groceries. When I put Martin in the cart, he immediately starts using his imagination, pretending as if he’s on board a ship at sea and thoroughly enjoying his trip in the market on the shopping cart.
I text Jack as I walk in, just to see if he needs anything. He responds with a mile-long list of things that we need. I sigh. I was only planning on being in here for a few minutes. Now, it’s a full-on shopping trip.
But, when it’s all done, I think to myself that this is fine. We do need all these things and I might as well get it all while I’m out. While at the checkout, Martin watches the clerk scan things one by one.
“That’s a lot of stuff, Mom,” Martin comments.
“Welcome to the family life, sweetie,” I joke.
After backing up the car and buckling Martin in his car seat, we’re on our way home. I suddenly feel drained from all the extra work.
I find the energy, though. I take Martin out of his car seat and start carrying the bags. “I wanna help!” he chirps. I smile and hand him a smaller bag and we start carrying the groceries into the house. It takes me about four trips to get it inside. Once that’s done, I send Martin off to his room to do his homework while I put the groceries away.
By this point, Jack’s home. I peek into the bedroom and see them both asleep on the bed. Jack was sitting up with a baby book in his hands and little Ava’s nuzzled up next to him, her dark hair in her face as she slumbers.
So…so. I guess dinner’s on me tonight.
I cook and before long, we’re all eating dinner the way we do every night. Jack’s talking about his day, but I’m not really paying attention. I’m kind of spacing out a little. I think I’m just really tired.
“Can you put the kids to bed tonight?” I ask Jack when I’m done with the dishes. “I’m worn out.”
“Yeah, sure. No problem,” he says.
When I’m asleep, I dream of a happy family. Jack and I with our two wonderful children. In my dreams, we are all living a satisfying life, and both our children grow up to be successful and wealthy people. It’s always this way in some version or another. I’m at graduations…weddings…I’m some fancy award show honoring either Martin or Ava (or sometimes even both).
Sometimes, I grow old and I’m surrounded by grandchildren. Jack and I are giving them hard candies and pushing them on an old tire swing in our yard…
And then, I’m dreaming about a childhood friend of mine who left for Canada abruptly. I dream I will meet her. And that we play in her Nan’s garden, among the rows and rows of peonies and jasmine….a really loud bird is shrieking at me.
