Validation

I picked up my kids, drove them home listening to the latest preschool gossip, made dinner and was thrilled (for once) with wonderful table manners and lots of polite table talk. We all changed into comfortable jammies and snuggled up in the oversized recliner to watch an old episode of Popeye. They were thrilled that he ate spinach because they had just had that for dinner and cleaned their plates. "We are strong like Popeye too cause we ate our veggies!" After the show we read "Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King" and halfway through the book, the phone rang. It was their dad, "Papa". I watched while J spoke to him and giggled when he called him "mijo". For some reason,they think that term is beyond hysterical. M didn't get a chance to chat this time because J got a lil button happy and hung up before he could talk. After the phone call, we finished up the book and brushed teeth. J snuggled into my bed and M into his (if I put them down in the same room, they'll never get to sleep). I kissed them goodnight and tucked them in snuggly before settling down for some "me" time watching junky tv. A few minutes later, the phone rang again and it was the boys' dad again. He asked how they are doing in school and said they sounded so happy. We talked about the boys' mom and he expressed his love for her and his sadness that their relationship has been so difficult. He said he knows she has made mistakes but acknowledged that he has too. He said he has no words to thank me for being his children's mother. Told me I am everything to them.

Thank you. You have no idea how much your words meant to me tonight. These boys could not be any more my own. Part of that is because of my love for their mom and for you. How could I not love the people who brought them into the world? I love them with my very being and think of them with my every breath. It is beyond my understanding that their father could verbalize his approval and peaceful acceptance of our family. Humbled, Thankful and Amazed.