Rhapsodical {A Bigger Picture Moment}

It's the shoulders that make me fall apart. 

 

I never would have pegged myself for a baby-shoulder-aficionado, but it's true.  It was true with my baby girls, and it's true with my baby boy.  He's going to be one year old next month, you know -- a toddler, really.  But his shoulders, so small under his smiling face, both defy and define time.

Somehow I see past and present and future, all bunched up across his shoulder blades.  That sounds ridiculous, but I haven't ever been able to think of a more sensible way to say it. 

 

Yesterday, this boy with his perfect smile fell out of his crib, probably in an attempt to flee naptime.  I heard the thump, double-stepped up the stairs to reach him, and found him crawling across the floor, sobbing.  He hiccuped and gasped in his fright, and I shushed and rocked in mine.  The only place he wanted to be was in my arms, and he burrowed into my neck, apparently willing to become one with my skin.  I rubbed his shoulders, my hand spanning their entire width.  I seek them out even when I don't mean to.

 

 

Once he was calmed down, I kept rubbing and rocking, swaying with the rhythm of a soothed crisis.  I laid him across my chest to cradle him better, stealing a glancing kiss on his forehead.  One shoulder was lodged into the flesh above my elbow.  Such a tiny thing. 

 

And that's when it came to me, a tiny truth to match a tiny shoulder: they are the strongest, sturdiest part of him.  A baby with fragile everything, with tiny everything is hiding strength in plain sight.  This is why I see past and present and future in something as silly and inevitable as a narrow set of shoulders.  He'll grow into them, broadening and stretching every year -- every day -- but even so, they're strong right now. 

 

I almost can't believe I just devoted so much white space to a rhapsodical discussion of baby shoulders.  Except I can, because I fall into gushing introspection each time I lay eyes upon them, and I can't keep these things to myself and it wouldn't be fair to you all if I did.

 

Because look: 

 

 

I mean...right? 

 

 

 

 

 

Every Thursday, we come together to share the harvest of intentional living by capturing a glimpse of the Bigger Picture through a simple moment. Join the Bigger Picture Community at Alita's place today! Reflect upon something simple — or simply magical — that’s resonated with you this week, then share it with us!