Renee
I was sitting in the living room after a full day of packing.
Boxes, tape, sorting through things that somehow multiplied over eight years.
I was spent.
Eden came downstairs and said,
“Do you want to come upstairs and go through the books so we can pack the little library?”
The one they’ve had forever.
I immediately said no.
“I’m done packing for today,” I told her.
Then she said something that shifted everything.
“I didn’t really think you’d say yes anyway.”
Something about that landed differently.
So I looked at her and said, "You know what, let's do it!" SoI stood up and went upstairs with her to the little bookshelf that Mark put together for them for the nursery when I was still pregnant with them.
Mark
One of the interesting things about moving is that it forces you to revisit things you haven’t touched in years.
Books.
Photos.
Old projects.
Memories that were quietly sitting on shelves.
Sometimes you rediscover things.
Sometimes those things rediscover you.
Renee
Eden started pulling books off the shelf.
These were the books Mark and I used to read to them when they were little.
Bedtime books.
The ones that became part of our nightly routine for years.
Instead of just sorting them into piles…
She sat down and started reading them.
To me.
Two of them.
One after the other.
At one point, she paused and laughed.
“You know what’s funny?” she said.
“I sound just like you when you used to read these to us.”
Then she said something that stopped me for a moment.
“I remember you sitting in the bed with us and reading this.”
Same book. Same rhythm. Same voice.
Except now she was the one reading.
Mark
There are moments as parents when time suddenly folds in on itself.
You realize the small things you did years ago didn’t disappear.
They echoed forward.
And one day, unexpectedly, they come back to you.
Renee
We almost packed those books away without opening them. I actually had intended just to pack it all up myself during the day while Eden and Xen were at school. I just hadn't gotten to that yet.
Just another box.
Another thing to move.
But instead, I got to sit on the floor together with Eden, flipping through stories that once felt like such an ordinary part of our evenings.
Eden turns sixteen next month.
Which means we’re a long way from bedtime stories.
But somehow…
They found their way back to me.
Renee & Mark
Presence isn’t always about grand gestures. Sometimes it’s simply choosing one more moment… even when you’re tired.
Time doesn’t take those moments away. It just returns them in new ways.