i had a moment

i had a moment on Tuesday morning.  the kind of moment you wish you could freeze-frame in your brain and forever remember the details that truly made it, well...."a moment".  i didn't get to blogging that day (or even the next) to mark it in time, and i know that a select few of you were probably wondering where i'd gone...i should never have made myself so predictable....
anyway, i was standing by the coffee pot shortly after 7 am, sipping that first swallow of hot coffee.  nothing like the first sip, is there?  comforting delicious bliss that represents warmth, routine, sweetness, abundance, promise of the day ahead, and simply, "gezellig" goodness....so, yah...i was standing there, mostly awake and ready to tackle the day with coffee in hand.  there were kids to get moving, to feed, and out the door for school. 
enter~ AJ....little AJ in his blue "onesie" fleece pj's with covered feet and zippered front.  he walked into the brightness of the kitchen with squinty eyes and hair matted in an upward position with flat, patted down sides.  he must primarily sleep on his side.  there's a certain way he holds his mouth with his teeth showing and upper lip and nose kind of scrunched up.  he softly said "hi mom" and i simultaneously scooped him up into my arms.  he wrapped his legs around my hips and we snuggled there for a moment.  and it hit me.  sometimes i miss those opportunities, i know i do.  but that Tuesday, that moment i was 100% aware and present.  i said out loud in my head (does that make sense?? :)  well it does to me....) "what if i had missed this??"  it is just so hard to imagine...for almost two years AJ has graced our family with his sweet spirit and funny ways.  he fits.  yet, just over two and a half years ago (and all the years before) i didn't even know of the three year old boy that was about to intersect our world in every way that is good.  and only two years ago we were waiting on final paperwork to be processed to return to Ethiopia to bring him home. 
so, the morning hug~ it was meaningful.  it was a moment.  i'm blessed.