My Son Fell Asleep on the Couch and I Didn’t Move Him Right Away

Dear Delyara, His neck was bent wrong. His socks were half off. The TV was still glowing blue across his face. I should have carried him up to bed the minute I saw him. Instead, I stood in the doorway and watched him sleep with his mouth slightly open and one hand still curled around the remote. I think I left him there for ten minutes because he looked so peaceful and so young that moving him felt like waking something sacred. Or maybe because I was tired enough to need those ten quiet minutes of not being asked for anything, even if they came from my child being unconscious on the couch. Eventually I lifted him. He wrapped his arms around my neck in his sleep the way he used to when he was smaller, and I nearly cried halfway up the stairs. There are nights when motherhood feels so tender it hurts. Tonight was one of them.