she paused, looked at me seriously, and added,
“But next time,
can we do it without you
checking your phone so much?”
I froze, smile fading slightly.
She snuggled in closer,
already drifting off to sleep,
unaware of the
quiet thunderclap
she’d just dropped on my heart.
That night,
I lay awake thinking—not about work,
or tomorrow’s to-do list,
but about how the best gift I could give
her was not wrapped in paper or hidden in a store…
It was my presence.
My full, undivided presence.