These Boys

These boys. 

They take my heart and run. 

They’re off to the end of the world and back in the turn of a second, and just like that, they are gone. They are fierce and loud and wild like no other. They love quiet when no one is watching.  They catch me with an eye that says you are mine. They laugh without inhibition, and they imagine worlds lost. Their giggles are contagious and consuming, and they chase the world from dawn to dusk.

These boys. 

They take my heart and run. 

Precious smiles and secret treasures. Forts in every room and camp-outs in mommy’s room. Tight hugs, rare stillness, and love without question. Feet too big and gappy smiles. Hair uncombed and shirts on backwards. Wonder and curiosity and bugs and dirt.  Boxers and baseball jerseys and holding on to childhood as long as possible. 

These boys.  

They gave me my true heart, and they will take it with them when they give it to another. 

My precious boys. 

Protectors. Lovers. Beautiful through and through. How you both changed me so. The me before you never knowing the other side of love. Never understanding that time moves like the wind sweeping up all that it passes by.  But now. I know. I know how fast it moves and how no hour can be returned.  

So, to my two boys.  Grow slow. Stretch out boyhood as long as you can.  Know how much you are loved. Keep your heart soft and know you will always carry mine.