“Can you promise me that there won’t be any more?”

That was my son’s question as we got ready for bed last Friday night.  (For my out-of-California readers, we had a couple of big earthquakes here last week.)

As I gave Ryan his nightly hugs and kisses, he asked me to promise him that everything was back to normal.  I couldn’t promise that.  

He asked me to promise him that if there were any after-shocks they would be too small to feel.  I couldn’t promise that.  

But I did promise Ryan the most important thing my husband and I have always promised him – to do everything we can to always keep him healthy and safe.

Throughout the night, I peeked in and watched Ryan sleep.  And I thought about how much of his life, and my life, is out of my control.  

I can’t make promises about earthquakes.  

But, I absolutely can make these promises to my son:

 

1.  I promise to always regard you with a mix of awe and wonder.

2.  I promise to always have chocolate in the house. 

3.  I promise that we will never run out of toilet paper.

4.  I promise that our family will always have money to buy books.

5.  I promise I will always cry at certain parts of certain movies (splash-down in Apollo 13 and the” there’s-no-bathroom-for-me-here” scene in Hidden Figures).

6.  I promise I will always yell at the TV when we watch basketball games.

7.  I promise to always attend your school functions including performances, conferences, and Back-to-School nights.

8.  I promise to always print out pictures, maintain our family photo albums, and periodically update the pictures on our refrigerator.

9.  I promise I will always feel colder than you and will annoy you when I ask you, again, if you’re warm enough.

10.  I promise that long after you’ll probably want them, I will still always have an endless supply of hugs and kisses.