Around 3:30 this morning Logan started screaming. Jacob and I both jerked awake from our sleep and sat up in bed as our minds tried to push past the fogginess and decide what was happening. Alex started screaming, "Logan! Logan!" Our brains eventually kicked into gear as if a switch had been flipped. Jacob and I both hopped out of bed and hurried to the boys' room. Logan was sitting up in his bed screaming and crying and Alex was yelling at him. I hurried to Logan and tried to calm him. He said he had a bad dream and just felt scared. I talked to him, comforted him, and eventually he went back to sleep. I went over to Alex and asked if he was okay and he said, "Yes, he just scared me."
Logan came out of his room this morning and said, "Remember the dream I had last night?" I said, "Yes." He said, "I don't like bad dreams, but if we didn't have bad dreams, would we know that our good dreams are good?" Logan is my thinker. He asks questions about everything, wants to know how everything works and wants to understand why the world is the way it is. Sometimes he says things and I find myself staring into his snaggle-toothed, freckled little face and thinking, "Are you really only 8 years old?"
He made a perfect point though. He makes me think. He also reminds me to focus on the positive and not the negative. We go through life teaching our children--it's funny how much our children teach us along the way, as well. May we always remember that all the bad things in our lives are merely there to shine light on the good things and help us grow stronger. You may be growing stronger right now! ;)
