Awake

Daily Prompt: First Light

It is usually quite dark outside when I wake up to a new day. For a moment, I always imagine the sky outside – lonely yet protective of our universe; either lit with moon and stars or staring in darkness hoping for the first ray of light to prick it, bleeding with brightness. While laying in bed, I always feel a tinge of excitement and a slight weariness for the impending tasks to do; the unknown event that might alter my life or an uneventful pile of hours of stability that I work so hard for.

Today, after the usual routine of sky gazing in my mind and turning off my alarm, I turned towards my asleep, eleven year old son. His eyes were slightly parted as his mouth, and his hands were neatly tucked under his head as a sturdy pillow. He smiled a bit, frowned the next moment. I watched his animated face as dreams traversed the territory of his mind space, wondering how he has changed my world and what was it like, before he stepped in from nowhere.

I ran my affectionate fingers through his hair, rewinding my thoughts ten years back when he and I, napped in the afternoons after a hearty meal, every single day. I used to smell his fresh, baby skin – soft and unmarked; watch the duvet of soft eyelashes that covered his eyes and brush over his chubby fingers – some closed holding a small red truck – slowly released as sleep took over. Sometimes, the truck traveled at inconvenient places and poked us – the sharp plastic edges marking unsaid fondness on our skin. I used to find it and put it back near his hands, so that when he woke up – he’d smile looking at it.

I returned from the flashback of ten years in a second. It was still dark outside and the world was asleep. He has changed and so have I. The red truck is long gone but sometimes, we nap together and I still watch him when he is sleeping. Our affection and fondness has stayed the same or perhaps grown and a lot will go unsaid as we both move forward. Perhaps, the red truck of our different mindsets will poke and disturb our peaceful lives but I will do my part to make him happy with the right choices. I hope, I will remain the constant sky for him – granting him freedom yet remaining watchful and protective and he will always be my s(u)n pulling me from darkness and embracing me into a bath of light.

I smiled, tucked him and quietly moved out. The dawn had arrived and I was awake.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/02/28/daily-prompt-first-light/