Raising Blair
1975

"Mom! Mom!"

Her son's cry woke Naomi from a sound sleep. She rushed to his bedroom. "Blair, I'm here, sweetie."

"Oh, Mom!" The six-year-old threw himself into her arms, shaking and crying.

"Hush, sweetheart," Naomi sat him closer and rocked him. "Did you have a bad dream?"

Blair nodded and sobbed louder.

"Shh, shh, it's alright. It's okay, now."

But Blair wasn't calming down, in fact, he was getting more and more agitated. "It got me! It got me! It bit my leg off!"

"Blair, listen to me. Find your center, baby. Let's focus now, find your center."

Blair's shaking slowly subsided.

"Good, good," Naomi soothed, wiping tears from his face. "Now let's take a cleansing breath." Naomi demonstrated, inhaling through her nose. "Hold it….and let it go," she exhaled through her mouth. "Come on, sweetie, you do it. Breathe in." Blair copied his mother. "Hold it….now breath out….Good. Again."

After several more, Blair had visibly relaxed. "That's it, sweetheart," Naomi kissed him. "Feel better?"

"Yeah," Blair yawned, rubbing his eyes with his left fist.

"Good," Naomi cuddled him close. "Now tell me about your dream."

"Um," Blair put his head down in Naomi's shoulder, facing away from her. "Do I have to?"

"You don't want to, huh?"

Blair didn't answer.

Naomi kissed the top of his head, the soft curls tickling her lips. "Okay. Well let's get back under the covers, here, Bear," she said, using his old nickname from before he could pronounce "BL". She pulled the covers up to his chin. "You going to be okay now?"

"Y-Yeah, I guess," Blair said.

Naomi brushed his hair off his forehead. "You sure?"

"Here you are," said a quiet voice from the doorway. Naomi's live-in boyfriend, Rich, came into the room and sat on the other side of Blair's bed. "Wow, you guys, guess what? I had this wild nightmare."

"You did?" Blair asked.

"Oh, yeah. It was about this big shark. Really scary."

"Aww.." Naomi patted his back.

"Man, I don't know if I can go back to sleep." Rich shook his head, then he looked up like he'd just had an idea. "Hey, Champ, how 'bout you come snuggle in bed with your mom and me? I think that'd make me feel better."

"Yeah?" Blair smiled. "Okay!"

"Okay, then." Rich lifted the boy out of his bed, swung him up onto his shoulders, and galloped down the hall to the bedroom he shared with Naomi. Once they were all tucked in, Blair in the middle, they practiced their Kundalini breathing until soft snores were heard from the center of the bed.

"I TOLD you this would happen if you took him to see Jaws," Naomi accused.

Rich gave her his most innocent look. "Honey, I told you, we went to the Mariners game."

"Yeah, right." Naomi wasn't buying it.

"…….Well, okay, but he really, really wanted to go."

"Well I really, really DIDN'T want him to go, Rich!"

"SHHH, shh, babe, you'll wake him up." Rich gave a contrite sigh. "Okay, you were right and I was wrong. I'm sorry. But Blair gave me the puppy eyes, Naomi! I mean, come on, I'm only human!"

Naomi grinned and shook her head at him. "Go to sleep, you big cream puff."

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1976

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