Monday, January 14, 2008

a conversation with will

A few days ago I was sitting at the computer and
Will came in and snuggled up against me.
I buried my nose in his curls which smelled like the lavender
shampoo he'd used in his bath the night before.
Some days Will's curls have that little boy puppy dog smell.
Some days they have the cold clean smell of outside lodged there.
I squeezed him and said, "I like how you smell, Will."
And he said, "I like how you smell, too, Mom."
"How do I smell?" I asked. (Which could be a dangerous question)
"Like Mom," he said.
As a little girl, I remember folding into my mom's side,
and breathing her in.
Nothing is quite as nice as being little and snuggling up with your mom.
She smelled clean and a little bit like perfume and every bit like my mom.
My mom had a very nurturing and utterly safe mommy kind of scent.
I told Will, "I liked how my mom smelled, too."
"Did she smell like a flower?" He asked, smiling.
"No," I said, smiling back, "Why? Do I smell like a flower?"
"No." He said, "Just like Mom."
And from my point of view, that is the very high praise.

5 comments:

Jessi said...

How interesting...my hubby & I were just discussing smelling our moms. It was in a movie we watched and he said "That's weird. I never smelled my mom." I told him it was NOT weird, and that our sons smell me all the time! And that I saved my grandma's perfume bottle when she died so that I could smell her when I miss her. And he said "Hmmm...maybe it has something to do with me not ever being close enough to my mom to smell her." Uh, yeah. Although, my own mom (who smells like mom, though I guess I never specifically went up and sniffed her) thinks it's hilarious when my boys come snuggle up just to smell me. My youngest (now 3) used to do it every night at supper...just randomly at some point lean over to my shoulder, take a big whiff and smile. Then continued eating...

Yeah, good times, good times.

Jules Bergman said...

High praise, indeed. This was lovely, Sue, thank you for sharing.

Unknown said...

That's much better than Faith, who when I leaned down to talk to her the othe day, promptly stuck two fingers up her nose and proclaimed, "Mom, you smell bad." Ah...kids...they keep you humble, that's for sure.

Kara said...

That was so super sweet. Makenna is a big "smeller" right now. She wants to smell everything and she continually asks me to smell her. I am thankful that at least for now I hear the words....."you smell pwetty mommy. MMMMMM!" Gotta love all that sweetness! :-) Love ya Sue!

Lindsey said...

What a precious post! No higher compliment or praise!