the cliff...

            

“I dreamed I fell off a cliff,” Goom said the other morning when I woke him up.

            “You did? Well you’re safe now,” I said soothing his hair and giving him a kiss.  I’d dream I fell of a cliff too if I’d spent the night at your father’s, I thought as I  smiled kissing his hand.

            “What happens if you fall off a cliff?” He asked looking down on me from his loft bed.

            “You get hurt.”

            “Is there blood?”

            “There can be.”

            “What if there’s water at the bottom?”

            “You might get less hurt.”

            “Would you die?”

            “Possibly.”

            “I hung on to a thing that was sticking out.”

            “Good that means that you will be able to take care of yourself, even when you feel unsafe,” I said helping him down.

            Goom grabbed my neck and flung his legs around me from the top rung of his ladder –a morning ritual even at the age of seven.

            “What happens if you fall with someone?”

            “You feel less scared.” I said carrying him to the living room feeling his bedtime warmth wrap itself around me.

            And then it dawned on me. Sometimes life can feel like a free-fall and having someone next to you for support can make it all feel a little safer.  I’ve never experienced this. I’ve either been single, dating or in a relationship that made my life a little less safe. I didn’t feel this with my family.  Now, I get glimmers of this with The Captain but just glimmers.  Our relationship is still new and we are still getting to know each other.  Gone are the days of leaving my heart on the doorstep without knowing the person I’m leaving it with.  The blind faith of the Fool has been replaced with the knowledge of the Magician. 

            “If you fell off a cliff.  I’d fall with you,” I said holding him with the morning sun cleansing our spirits.