Now

Small Boy wakes up from his nap and needs me now. He needs to be changed now. He's hungry now. He wants to play now. He wants me. Right now. He is an anchor holding me fast to now when the currents of the past swirl around me. What can I do but change him, dress him, nurse him. He needs me now. I turn on the radio and we dance around the apartment to Bruce Springsteen. I shake my head and whip my hair back and forth. He laughs and reaches out for my newly cut locks. I toss my hair some more, he laughs again. I dance around the apartment in big unselfconscious circles, my son in my arms laughing, reaching out for my hair, my face, and I realize that I am not so very far from home after all.