Sometimes, in the deepest, darkest part of a long night, when the whole house is silent but for the breathing of Hunter, the big furry member of the clan, and the problems of the world are weighing heavy on your shoulders, (or the antihistamine you took a while ago is keeping you awake), something happens to bring clarity to your pondering and resolution to your frustration.

You hear the smallest of voices quietly sobbing at a bedroom door. You tiptoe to your four-year-old grandson’s room and find him standing there, tears rolling down his face, and you just scoop him up and hug him and ask him what’s wrong, and he tells you that his legs really hurt. As he hangs on tight you tell him about growing pains and start to massage his tiny little calves. You lift him up into his loft bed, lay him on his tummy, put his favorite stuffed toy next to him, and continue gently rubbing his sore muscles and his back while he slips back into a deep sleep. And a tear slides down your own cheek as you realize just how blessed you are to be there to help him through just one of the many painful parts of growing up he will experience.

In those wee small hours of the morning as the problems of the world slip away you realize the most important thing in your life, family, has just blown away all of those other things you tend to worry about, but just can’t fix anyway, and left you with something you can fix, a little boy’s late night tears. And as you think about the past week of living with your grandchildren while Mommy and Daddy were away, and think past the tiring part of keeping up with two toddlers at your age while fighting a nasty cold yourself, you begin to ache for the next time you get to be with them, and you wonder how soon that will be. And at last, released from the grip of worry and frustration, you, too, finally drift off into a welcome and long -awaited sleep.