Light-up Squares

I'm awake but my eyes won't open.  I stayed up too late watching the presidential debate, and C was up in the night teething.  I slowly, foggily realize the reason why I'm awake-- there are two girls in my bed.

M is awake but gone, already working on the computer downstairs (it's a work-from-home day).  Two wiggly, curly-haired bundles have taken his place in the bed beside me.  They sit side by side on M's pillow, and although it's too dark for me even to see them (it's veeery early) I can hear them whispering and feel their warmth pressing against me.  They are trembling with excitement-- only well-rested children who have enjoyed their twelve hours of sleep can do that this early in the morning, I think.

N whispers, "L-- look, there it is!"

L: "Light-up square."

N: "Let's wait for another one."

L: "Heeeere it coooomes..."

N: "Another light-up square!!!"

L: "There's the Mommy one, and the baby running away..."

(Delighted giggles)

I wonder if I must be dreaming, because I can make no sense of this conversation.

I roll over and force my eyes open.  My hand reaches up to decipher the girl next to me... I feel Tinkerbell pajamas, long legs, and bed-head curls.  It is N.  "Morning Mama!" she greets me in her cheerful way.

"Look Mama," she says, still whispering.  "Light-up squares."  She points to the wall opposite the bed.

On the wall, I see the dim outline of a square.  It's the gray light of dawn coming through the window behind the bed, where the shade has been pulled down halfway to create a perfect square shape.  It casts a shadow on the opposite wall.

"Just wait Mama... the light-up squares start in that gray square.  If you just wait long enough, you'll see one."

And sure enough, we wait a few seconds, and then a car driving down the road shines its lights in the window, creating a second bright quivering square.  It begins on top of the gray square, and then skitters across the wall as the car drives toward the house, and finally past it, and the angle of the light changes.

"And then it disappears," L says sadly.  The light-up square folds into nothingness as it reaches the end of the wall.

"But another one will come," N encourages her sister, determined as always.

So we sit in silence as my eyes droop, waiting for the next light-up square.

And then it comes.  "There it is!!" they say excitedly.

Because of their little-girl excitement-- their resolute child-like faith in the next square to come, I no longer see just shadows and lights... ordinary people driving by on their way to work... the unwelcome gray light of dawn that came too soon for a tired Mama.

I see light-up squares.  I see magic.

And it is a beautiful way to start my day.

{Although I'm a bit intimidated here, I'm linking up at Just Write today!}