The Little Things

This story begins with a short background. My sister-in-law, Shelby, got engaged in November shortly after her mother (my mother-in-law) died. She asked if we would allow her wedding to take place at our home because she felt a sense of closeness to her mom at our house. It's the house we last had a large, happy family function with her (a surprise anniversary party for her and my father-in-law). It's also the house we mourned in as a family surrounded by friends - where we lit her memorial candle and gathered before and after the funeral. Sam and I were honored that she feels this way about our home, and we were happy to be able to provide our house for her wedding.

On the day of Shelby's wedding, we had put all of Banner's toys away and made the house more "grown up" for her big day. (It was actually kind of... okay, REALLY... nice to have our house back to pre-baby days!) I took out a small sample of toys to keep Banner entertained during the ceremony, there was a fridge toy that was available, and two small toy "groceries" were inadvertently left out, but other than that, it was a mess-free, toy-free house. :) We cleaned like we haven't cleaned before. In fact, our house hasn't been this clean since my mom and sister cleaned the house while I was in the hospital after Banner's birth. So nice to have reclaimed my house!!!

The wedding went really well. Sam built a chuppah for the couple to be married under. Banner was supposed to walk in with his two older cousins ahead of the bride, but Banner didn't want to walk without his Zaide, so my father-in-law had to walk him in the room before escorting Shelby! Other than that, he did great during the ceremony sitting on Sam's lap and then mine. He ate well, participated in family photos, played with his cousins, watched the bride and groom dance, and watched the bride and Zaide dance. Soon after, my mom came to pick Banner up to spend the night at her house. We said our goodbyes, and then Sam and I relaxed and enjoyed our evening with the family.

After everyone left, Sam and I vacuumed, swept, mopped, and returned everything to its normal place. We took advantage of our time and the fact that we were reorganizing to go through Banner's toys to clear out and resort. Upon reorganizing his toy bins, I asked Sam to go grab the little toy "groceries" that I had last seen on the kitchen table. He looked, but they weren't there. I swore I had seen them during the reception, so we started looking around the kitchen, den, dining room, living room, and Banner's room. Nothing.

I was getting annoyed because I knew I had just seen them; Sam had seen them, too. I mentioned that since they were little empty bottles that maybe someone had thrown them away, inadvertently thinking that they were trash. We kept cleaning but I was really annoyed. I knew I was being silly because they aren't anything special, but Banner really liked these toys, and they were part of a larger set that I only bought him 4 days ago. So I couldn't get over it! I jokingly mentioned to Sam that I might go outside and look through the trash (I had already looked through the bag currently in the trashcan). Sam said he knew even though I was saying this in a joking way that I was partly really wanting to. I told him he was right, and he said if I wanted to do that to wait til the morning. I told him if I was going to dig through trash that I wanted to do it right now or not all. Within a few minutes, we were both outside digging through two bags of trash from the night. Sam had taken them out of the driveway dumpster to both help and humor me. A few icky minutes later, he found the two small bottles and looked up to find a huge grin on my face! I was like a giddy child on Christmas morning (okay, I'm Jewish, I don't know what that's like - but I can certainly imagine)! I was so thankful. I knew it was silly, but it was the mommy in me that wanted to rescue my baby's little toys.

I threw my arms around Sam and kissed him, thanking him for being such a good husband to me so that I could stop thinking about where those damn things were! He laughed and thanked me for being a good mom to our son, caring about his things and what he would want us to do. Banner will never know that we dug through three bags of trash to find his little toys, washed them thoroughly, and rejoiced at our heroism. He will never know that it drove his mama crazy that something was missing that we had just seen and that we just couldn't go to sleep without finding it! But, he will know one day, because of these little things, these little acts, that his mommy and daddy love him SO much and are willing to do the silliest, stupidest, craziest things for him. Thank you, Sam, for humoring me. Thank you for knowing what would put my mind at ease. And, thank you, for all these little things!

Oh, and P.S. The house looks and smells amazing! Thanks, Shelby & Paul, for celebrating your big day here.... and thanks for giving us the big shove to get this house back in order! I love it! And, I love you. Congratulations!!