Spontaneous Hugs

With the kids gone, I often sit for a few minutes and “hear” their voices echoing through the house. They are such lively little buggers that they leave their energy behind – just long enough to get us through to their return!

This weekend, as I sat with my eyes closed, I remembered and encounter I had with Little Man.I guess before I start, it would be helpful to give you a bit of background. Hmmm…

1. Little Man loves his fish … although he can’t really remember their names from one day to the next.
2. The average life span of a fish in my care is not long – particularly if they are goldfish.
3. After I killed several goldfish, we bought fish of heartier stock – with the help of the lovely people at PetSmart.
4. I have not killed these yet. (I don’t suppose that’s a necessary detail, I’m just proud of myself.)
5. Little Man is convinced that his fish need a house and a plant. Our fish tank isn’t big enough for both.
6. The fishbowl is my job around here. All mine!

Just before Grammy came, I cleaned out the fishbowl. It was getting kind of nasty and I had some time so I just did my thing. I didn’t think to much about it at all, actually. I cleaned the bowl, replaced the stones and the filter, and swapped out the plant that had been in the take with the house that we’d used before. No fish died in the process and the kids weren’t even aware that I was cleaning the tank. No biggie.

the castle and the algae sucker

So, finished with the bowl, I went on to other things. I was in the office working on something and all of a sudden Little Man runs in with a HUGE smile on his face. HUGE! [I initially wondered what he'd gotten into. Candy seemed to be a logical guess.]

“THANKS, MOM!”, was followed by a hug the size of his grin.

Startled, I asked, “Little Man, you are very welcome. But, I’m not sure what I did.”

He said, “You put the castle in the fish tank.”

I had no idea. No idea at all that this castle meant that much to him. Wanna know something else? I had no idea how much I loved this type of spontaneous hug.

Have you ever had the experience of not missing something because you’d never had it before, but then really missing it once you found out what you were missing?

Yeh, me too. I miss him. I miss them.

Spontaneous hugs all around!