Moses and I just finished watching some of BBC’s Planet Earth series – which, by the way, never ceases to amaze (and mesmerize) me. During one of the segments, Moses was especially captivated by the baby sea turtles. He perked up when they first arrived, newly hatched, on the screen, their adorable little flippers teetering across the beach’s sand. And when they made their fateful (and for many, fatal) journey into the violent ocean tide, he began to cry. A number of times after that segment was over, Moses would turn to me and tell me he loved and missed the sea turtles and tears would again well up in his eyes and he would bury his head in my chest.
Later, when getting into bed, he expressed again his love for those turtles and had the closest thing to an emotional breakdown I’ve ever seen him have. Granted the heightened emotions are surely in part due to the tiredness that is the result of a long and eventful day but it was still no doubt heart-felt and very touching. I suggested he try to fall asleep and dream of baby sea turtles. He nodded, thinking this was a good idea, laid down, and fell immediately to sleep.
O, if we could all have the simple compassion and love of a three-year old.
Maybe that’s what I’ll dream about. Good night.
