The Toy Cars

My little boy is standing in his room in his shark pajamas, crying for me in the dark. His calls of “Mamaaaa!” woke me and brought me to his side. Kneeling down to wrap my arms around him, I can feel the wet tear tracks on his cheek.

“Oh, oh, oh. I’m here, sweetie. What’s the matter, wee boy? Did you fall out of bed?”

He snuffles and hiccups and shakes his head “no” before leaning his head on my shoulder, but doesn’t raise his arms. I gather him up and move to the rocking chair.

“Stuck, Mama.”

“You couldn’t get the door open?”

“No …” More snuffles, and I’m pretty sure he just wiped his nose on my shirt.

I can feel his arms against my chest, with a number of other lumpy items. There’s the usual soft bundle of Arfur and Yaya, his constant companions. This time I can also feel several hard, cold objects. When he’s settled on my lap, I investigate with my hand. He’s got two toy cars and the double-decker city bus, as well as the stuffed dog and his blanket. Ah. Yes. Since we converted his crib into a toddler bed, he’s been bringing more and more toys into bed with him. The cars are some of his favourites.

I rock him and talk to him softly until he’s calm and sleepy once more. It doesn’t take too long—he’s very tired. When I tuck him back in his bed, he gives a great sigh and is asleep before I leave the room. I close his door once more and return to my own room. My husband asks drowsily, “what did he need?”

“He couldn’t get out of his room to come see us.”

“Mm? Was the door stuck?”

“No, he was just holding so much stuff that he couldn’t reach up to grasp the door handle. Poor thing, he was so sleepy, he didn’t think to put down some of the cars until he got the door open.”

We both chuckle a little, and Chris goes back to sleep. I’m dozing off too, when a thought occurs to me. As adults, how many “things” (responsibilities, duties, guilt-induced burdens…) are we carrying, that are preventing us from getting where we want to go? How many obstacles could we overcome, if we just mentally set a few things down, even for a little while? Which ones can we let go of?

What do you think?