A story I made for my boys...
Lance "Momma how much do you love me"
Momma "Oh so much."
Robin "How much is so much?"
Lance " Do you love me more than Robin? I came first!"
Robin "No momma loves me more I came last I was perfect!"
Momma looking at Lance, then at Robin. "Humm how do I explain this? "
"I love you more than all the ants on the ground"
Robin "That's not much, who do you love that little?"
Lance " Your little maybe that's you?"
Momma "Nope that's both of you. Get down low like a little tiny ant" they boys lay down on the soft green grass
"Robin how many ants do you see? " Momma asked.
Robin tried to count them one,two, three, "Momma there are too many and they keep wiggling around."
Lance looked at Robin and said "There are more than I can count for sure."
Momma smiled "So if there are more ants on the ground than we can count is that a big love or just a little? "
The boys grinned " Big, really big!"
The next day the boys asked again "How much do you love me?"
Momma said "More than all the grass on the ground"
Lance was prepared for this "There is a lot of grass in our yard but not so much, how much grass?"
"Yeah," piped Robin smiling they had momma now!
Momma smiled"Look at our yard," She said "and think almost every person in the world has some kind of yard or garden or park they can go to. And all of it has grass, I love you more than all that grass!"
"Wow" the boys said, "that's a lot of love! "
That night the wind blew hard and the lighting flashed through the windows the boys were scared so they asked again, "Momma how much? "
Momma held them both all snuggled in under a cozy blanket. She was listening to the wind blow and the crashing of the thunder. "How much what lovie?" She asked softly kissing each on the head.
"Please tell us how much you love us."
Momma laughed softly and hugged them both tight.
"I love you more than all the leaves on all the trees in all the world."
"I love you more than all the rain that has fallen from the sky from the beginning of Time. "
"I love you more than all seeds that have ever fallen from all the plants that have ever been. "
And momma kissed them up till they started to laugh and then they happily fell asleep.
The next day they went to the beach. Robin played in the sand and Lance swam like a fish in the ocean.
"Not too far Lance" momma said only thigh deep."
Lance shouted above the waves "Ok Momma"
Momma looked down at Robin, her eyes darting from one boy to the other as she stood between them her eyes never leaving one or the other for long.
Looking at Lance, Momma scolded Robin, "Robin don't play with that crab he is going to give you a nasty bite."
Robin looked up at Momma, mad because he was having fun. "How do you do that?' He asked", and why do you care if I play poke poke with the crab? "
"I care because I love you, and how do I do what? "Momma said once again checking on Robin then Lance.
"You just don't want me to have fun." Said Robin
Momma laughed then sighed, "No Robin I want you love love little creatures as much as I love you and Lance. "
Robin snorted and looked up at Momma her eyes watching Lance as he swam. "Yeah momma and how much is that? "
"More than all the water in all the ocean, all the rivers and all the lakes in all the world. Even more than all the sand on all the beaches and in all the deserts and under all the oceans of all the world."
Momma called to Lance "Lance too far. Come back this way."
Lance couldn't hear momma over the crashing of the waves momma looked at Robin and said "DON'T MOVE!"
Momma ran down to the ocean and dove into the waves swimming to grab Lance because he was too deep. Momma scooped Lance up and carried him to the shore she began to shout. " Lance you didn't listen! I said no deeper then your thighs are you ok? Talk to me are you ok you were too deep "
Lance began to cry " You don't love me any more your mad at me! That's your angry face and you don't love me anymore."
Lance cried so hard that Robin came over, and as he tried to comfort Lance he began crying too.
Robin looked at Momma and said "Stop yelling your hurting my brothers feelings, you don't love us!"
Momma stopped yelling with tears in her eyes "I am not mad, I am scared, the ocean is wide and deep and very easy to loose a small boy in. I called you and you didn't hear me. I thought the ocean was going to take you far away from me I was scared." Kneeling down beside the boys she held them tight , "I love you both more than anything ,I love you when I am happy, and I love you even more when I am angry! "
Momma kissed them both squeezed them tight and whispered, " Let's pack up and go home we will have a weenie roast in the yard ok?"
The boys nodded quietly and gathered their things. Later that evening Momma lit the fire pit laid out a blanket and they roasted hotdogs and and marshmallows they ate quietly. Then they lay on the ground looking up at the sky. The boys had been quiet since the beach Momma supposed they were thinking and she let them as the fire burned low. Momma lay with them and quietly began showing the boys the constelations, Orion, Leo ,the big dipper.
Softly Robin whispered "You love us even when your angry? "
She nodded, Lance said "I hate you when I am angry" Momma laughed.
"I will tell you a secret Robin" moved closer "what?"
"I love you even when you hate me, I love you even when your angry!"
Lance and Robin looked at each other and shook their heads, "No one can love anyone that much not even you Momma."
Momma smiled a very, very special smile and she pulled the boys in tight their heads on her shoulders as they looked up at the deep dark night sky. "Do you really, really want to know how much I love you?"
They nodded.
"Count all the stars you can see, then count all the ones you can't see, then add all the stars in all the galaxies in all the universe and you still don't have enough numbers. To me you both are more important than even air. I love you both more than anything..
Because Mommas love just that much.