Boy 1 held my phone to snap a picture. The other children ran over to me and Mr. Fantastic, vying for a place in the shot.
When I looked at it later, I saw how Boy 3 and the Lady had thrown themselves on me, winding arms around one another and pressing faces as close as they could get them.
I have spent long, lingering moments staring at this photo. In my mind it is not just a picture of people I love.
I see our hearts on display.
Mr. Fantastic and I are on a vigilant mission to love our children so fiercely that they will forever be wound up in the cords of our devotion to them.
In just a few years they will all be propelled into their future lives. Then we will wait and see if the bonds we have forged are strong enough to draw them home when troubles bear down, joys rise up, and the comfort of family calls out.
Family is all about tangled hearts, caught up in loving one another, not knowing where this road we step will lead us.
But always knowing that it is the walking together in love that makes the journey a worthy one.
