Parental Perfection

The Bean has been mildly ill the last few days; nothing too drastic, and she seems to be well enough to go to school tomorrow. Certainly her fever is gone, so that's the big key. Nonetheless, last night she was still a bit out of sorts until she had a long bath and got tucked into bed. Things were going well, sleep was being had, etc, until about midnight when Gene and I went to bed ourselves and saw the tell-tale flickering LED that said the Bean was at least stirring. We plodded in to her room, only to find she had kicked off all her covers, but was basically still asleep; she was, however, not comfortable, as it's been down in the low 40s if not upper 30s at night out here (I know, crazy, eh?). We
pulled her covers up and lightly patted her back. At which point she emitted the most precious, contented, sweetly inflected sigh I'd ever heard from her. In two seconds, she summed up the perfect balance of coziness and comfort and trust.

It was, in truth, a moment of parental perfection we keep discussing.