Okay, close your eyes. Maybe lie down so you’re cozy? A blanket is nice. Okay. What do you see? At first, it’s dark in there. But if you really look, you will start to see pictures. Maybe it’s a bear with claws, or an ice cream cone, or a memory. Like, cuddling your mom. Maybe it’s words, like LOVE or DANCING. Sometimes it’s just tinkly lights. Whatever you see, write about it. Really explain it until it becomes a story. I like to draw what I see, too.
I see my children, as they are today, as they were when they first became known to me. They’re brothers, in every sense of the word. Henry doesn’t talk yet but he pulls Oliver to his chest often, this expression of love and comfort in a way that he can communicate. I see them as they might be as teenagers, hopefully roaming the halls of my school, collapsing on a bean bag in the corner of my classroom during tutorials. I see them as they will be as adults, with a close relationship with me and my husband, not the kind I could never foster with my own parents.