I Love You More Than...

As the sun passes the horizon and the moon dangles overhead, the animals in the zoo begin to head off to bed. In the tangles of tree branches, a Mama sloth ventures toward her sleeping nook at the curve of a sturdy branch. She loves this spot right at the top of the leafy canopy because she can look up, up, up to the stars.

Mama sloth settles her back against the mossy branch and reaches toward her tummy, adjusting an even smaller sloth right onto her chest.

Big, round eyes look up towards Mama sloth, and his slow yawn makes her giggle.

“Mama,” says the baby sloth, eyes full of the moon’s wonder. “How much do you love me?”

Mama sloth takes her two-clawed hand and taps her furry chin, scrunching her eyes and wrinkling her nose before gently nuzzling into him.

“My sweetest treasure,” she whispers, “do you see the stars up above?” Baby sloth cranes his neck to the star-flecked sky, and with two long blinks nods his head.

“I love you more than all the stars in the sky,” Mama sloth says, dropping one kiss on his forehead.

Baby sloth frowns, eyebrows knitting with frustration. “But what if all the stars go out? Will you still love me then?”

Mama sloth laughs, rustling the leaves around them. “My first love, if all the stars go out, I will love you more than all the sand on the beach,” she says, caressing his head, “and all the waves in the ocean.”

Baby sloth frowns so deeply that it becomes a scowl. “But Mama!” he whines, gripping her bristly fur. “What if all the sand gets taken by the ocean, and the waves never come back? Will you still love me then?”

Mama sloth laughs again, compelling the macaws to resume their midnight mutterings. “My beating heart, then I will love you more than all the leaves in all the trees,” Mama sloth says, pressing two kisses on his forehead, “and all the roots deep in the ground.”

“One day, Mama,” Baby sloth says through a tremendous yawn, “I hope I can love you even more than you love me.”

Every blink becomes longer and longer until his eyes flutter shut. Mama sloth waits for his sleeping breaths to become deep and rhythmic against her furry chest.

“My one and only,” whispers Mama sloth, a tear glistening with starlight and dreams. “Even then, I will still love you more.”