It’s Spring.
Trees are budding, flowers are blooming, and the grass is growing all around.
In other news, if you live on a farm, things are hatching, foaling, calving and kidding.
All the babies on the farm are precious, particularly newborn piglets. They are so teeny-tiny up next to their great-BIG-momma. They make me want to do this
but then the loud, intimidating blow-snort from the gigantic-crush-your-bones-like -a-Scooby snack- momma snaps me right back to reality as I view them from afar.
Spring also ushers in a certain level of farm friskiness. The animals sense it and are all up in each other’s business. The simplicity of nature and the life lessons that present themselves are endless on the farm.
Case and point.
One evening recently after our nightly family devotion and prayer,just as the hub and I were leaning in for the bedtime hug and kiss for our oldest the sweet sentiment was brought to an abrupt halt.
Calm, cool and collected with his hands behind his head,
“Hey Momma, I saw the pigs hatch today.”
Insert the emojicon with the big eyes
as I glared across our son’s bed at my baby daddy.
My big eyes cuing the hub to jump in and respond to our son’s declaration.
Giving him the, YOU’RE ON DAD look..
Crickets.
Not a sound from either of them.
Just awkward-somebody-needs-to-say-something-silence.
“Is that right? You saw the pigs hatch? Huh.”
Still glaring across at my dear, sweet, precious husband who had apparently lost his ability to speak.
“How much of ‘the hatching’ did you see son?”
“All of it Momma. I saw all of it.”
“Is that right? All of it. Huh.”
Still- not so much as a word from the man standing directly across from me-the father of the child speaking to me.
“Tell me son, what exactly did you see when you say you saw the pigs hatch?”
“Well, Momma, I saw where they come out.”
“Huh.”
Still not a-single-word from the man in the room.
“So Momma, is that where babies come from? Is that what happened to me?”
Annd there it was. Just like that. The question I saw coming like a freight train down the track.
And now… the moment of truth ….the moment that someone was going to need to answer and since the man who had fathered the precious child in the room had gone mute and was apparently unable to SPEAK ….what else is a mom to do but to answer the inquisitive child that for-the-LOVE can we please just say, sweet dreams, goodnight, I love you ?!
“Umm, yes son. Yes it is. That is what happened to you BUT here’s the thing. That’s our family-farm-secret and that kind of news might scare people who don’t live on a farm so let’s just keep this lil talk between us for now, okay?”
“Ok.”
Whew.
Good talk.
Good stuff.
Right there at bedtime. Just me, our boy and the muted-not-so-much-as-a-breath, baby daddy.
Good talk.
And so it begins …the next phase of parenthood.
This should be a blast.
PS-I’d love to hear your awkward-so-this-conversation-is happening now story…..Share in comments