I was lying on the couch, typing on my laptop (where I often am about 10 pm) when my daughter came downstairs.

Daughter: Mom, can I tell you my really weird dream?
Me: (closing laptop) Yes.
D:  Well, only parts of it, because I can’t remember it all. But I was in the chicken coop, but it was full of alligators, and I was trying to feed them, but they kept being hungry. I was throwing everything in! And then there were monkeys jumping all around trying to eat the food!
Me: Wow! Wild dream!
D: Yep! It was a crazy night in the alligator coop!
(photo by Spencer Wright)

She went back up to bed grinning and I remembered the thousands of times I regaled my parents with disjointed tales of my own dreams.  And how they listened. Thank you, Mom and Dad.

Isn’t this what life is made of?

Conversations in the car with my teen.  A trip to the grocery store with my married daughter and her baby.  Quick phone calls with my son when I tell him I love him and he says, “I love you too, Mom.” Dancing around the living room with my girls.  Closing my laptop to listen to dreams about alligator coops.

These are the little pieces love is made of.

<3