\u201c-Mom, was there really so much to do with me too?\u201d \u2013 Do raises his eyebrows, watching how Dad and I bustle around My.
\nI pause.
\nI smile.
\nI smooth the tousled hair on his head.
\nAnd I nod in agreement.<\/p>\n
Or rather\u2026 I should really swing my biggest gesture of my life.
\nBecause now I have something to compare to.
\nAnd I can boldly say:
\nMy \u2013 Minister of Affairs.<\/p>\n
But \u201cwhile holding this office,\u201d he behaves quite honorably.
\nHe knows sleep is necessary.
\nHe doesn\u2019t complain about appetite.
\nAnd he welcomed \u201csosk\u0117\u201d as an old familiar friend.
\nPatient to infinity.
\nAnd even when a sharp twinge of belly pain strikes, he doesn\u2019t send \u201ckakaryn\u0117\u201d off to work.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, about his now older brother Do\u2026 unfortunately, such epithets can\u2019t really be applied.
\nA medal for Minister of Life Affairs could have been pinned on him without a second\u2019s thought.
\nAnd though he grew up sincere and kind-hearted, at the beginning of his life he was \u201cturbo power\u201d and often played on the last nerve of the two of us and Dad.<\/p>\n
We didn\u2019t give up.
\nTogether we learned to be good parents.
\nWe protected.
\nWe cradled in our arms.
\nWe soothed to sleep.
\nWe fed.
\nWe rejoiced the first time he:
\nTurned over,
\nSat up,
\nTook a hesitant step,
\nSpoke his first word,
\nSlept through the night.<\/p>\n
We cared for him when he was sick.
\nWe didn\u2019t grumble through the long nights of teething.
\nWe encouraged him at daycare.
\nWe beamed at his first poem learned,
\nHis tied shoes,
\nHis tear-free mornings.
\nWe clapped seeing him ride two wheels toward us.
\nAnd even swaying heavily, he didn\u2019t fall.
\nWe held him in our arms, armed with a bigger white gladiolus, standing beside him on the first September 1.<\/p>\n
We taught him to write,
\nTo read,
\nTo count.
\nWe celebrated when he succeeded.
\nWe grieved when he didn\u2019t.
\nWith elephant-sized pride, we watched him descend the hill on a snowboard for the first time.
\nWe held our breath and paced the shore as he kiteboarded across the lake.<\/p>\n
And now I stand at the window, watching the young man digging snow in the yard,
\nThen glance at My, snuggled in my arms\u2026
\nAnd I think:
\nNo matter how many tasks \u201chappen,\u201d
\nI wouldn\u2019t trade for \u201cnothing\u201d the fact that I am
\nTHEIR MOM.<\/p>\n
They grow up.
\nShrugging their shoulders, they listen to tales as if invented anecdotes, of what parades of affairs they\u2019ve organized.
\nAnd we.
\nHaving lived through those anecdotes, sworn never to step on that same rake again.
\nAnd again, we hold in our arms a new captain of the heart,
\nWith whom we\u2019ll live through every point and little point,
\nUntil before our eyes stands a shoulder-high young man, unable to believe that once upon a time, he held the office of Minister of All Household Affairs.<\/p>\n
Sweetly,
\nV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","class_list":["post-17653","istorija","type-istorija","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/viktorijos.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/istorija\/17653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/viktorijos.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/istorija"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/viktorijos.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/istorija"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/viktorijos.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}