"She hugged the stuffing out of me!"

I may be the only one who heard William Christopher's Father Mulcahy when reading the title of this post, but then, it's been generally established here that I'm just weird, and I think in movie/tv dialogue way too much.

So.

Tonight, after the lost-tooth adventure and Hubby's departure for his Friday night hobby (he likes to go to the auction house down in C-burg; you stop that right now), and a very quick Skype call to Gramma and Boppa, I managed to get the twins tucked in.

I did not manage to make it more than two steps out of their room before I got paged back by Medium.  (This has become a cycle, as if it's part of their bedtime routine, and if I make the mistake of going on down the hall to tuck in Large Fry, either or both of them will continue to shout my name.  We're going to break this habit.  Gah.)  I retrieved her big duck and told her it was time to go to sleep, and I expected to not hear a peep out of them as I went down the hall again.  (By golly, it worked.)

I settled down to pray with Large Fry and sing her tuck-in song (the first verse, anyway).  I asked her if she wanted music tonight, and hit the sleep button on her clock radio when she said yes.

I stopped at the foot of her bed and told her I loved her...and was really surprised when she jumped up, threw herself at me, wrapped her arms around me tightly, and held on for dear life.  I hugged her back just as fiercely, and got concerned when she didn't seem to want to let go.

"What's wrong, honey?"

"Will you always love me?" she whispered against my shirt.

"Always.  I'll always love you.  Always.  Okay?"

She nodded, and continued to hold on.

I murmured more soothing words, until I was sure she was ready to let go and lay back down again.

When she finally dropped her arms, she sniffled and said something I didn't quite get.

"What?"

"I said I was crying happy tears, because you love me so much."

...

I'll go swallow the lump in my throat while you go get that speck of sentiment out of your eye, okay?