Simple Pleasures

Tonight I went to some relatives' house today for Monday night family home evening. The mission was finding the perfect Christmas tree. Unfortunately the place that sells the best trees was closed by the time we were all ready to go. So we decided to take an adventure into the woods behind the house. Uncle Derek and Aunt Daphne led the way with Lacey(19), Bailey (8), Jason (5), Matthew (3) and myself in tow. As soon as we stepped outside into the damp darkness Matthew turns around and looks up at me with wide eyes and says "I'm scared!" He reached his arms upwards and I couldn't resist picking him up and offering him comfort. He seemed to feel better after I told him I would hold him and make sure nothing hurt him, but as soon as we neared the very dark woods, he decided that that wasn't good enough :) So back to the house we went and he made me promise I would stay at the house with him and not leave him. It's funny how good something like that makes you feel.
Later that evening Matthew told me that he loved me. Matthew is usually pretty affectionate with me, especially lately, but he's never told me he loved me. My heart felt like it was going to explode! I gave him the biggest hug and told him I loved him too. He told me this several times through out the night and then told me that he missed me when I went home. Nothing is purer than a child's love, and nothing feels quite as amazing as receiving that love. If only we could all have that and stay that way forever. Wouldn't the world be so wonderful?