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| My response to the woman leaving Dos Coyotes on Saturday who asked with a smile, "Is it Halloween already?" : "One day is not enough for costumes!" I grinned, spreading the joy. |
Tonight as my mama skills were maxed out and exhaustion was setting in, my head was spinning...spinning with all to be getting done and spinning with "live in the moment: these two need you." We took a ride to the mailbox, me on my feet following behind as they raced their bikes up the road. There is something about this strip of road of ours that helps erase the wild and crazy of the day. Our little ol' road, I love it.
When we got back the kids jumped on the swings and flew. This past weekend I realized how I miss our hammock. I need it. Darn squirrels, nibble, nibble. Nevermind, I told myself I would write in the positive.
Moving on, we ventured inside when the sweet smell of skunk was wafting through the yard and as we rounded the corner of the laundry room Mason announced, "It smells better in here." We were safe. After taking a few minutes to chip away a layer of dishes and start a load of laundry I settled into some game time.
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| I told the kids I needed a few minutes to do some dishes and they could play or draw while I do that before we played a game. While I did dishes they asked me how to spell Daddy. Here is the little snippet of joy that evolved and now hangs on our wall with green and yellow striped tape. Notice the hand holding...bliss! |
Mason wanted to do puzzles and Ellie wanted to play a game and neither wanted to compromise. They wanted me and they wanted their way. Somehow we settled on Mason building puzzles while Ellie and I played The Ladybug Game. I turned on Pandora and The Vitamin String Quartet reminded me of our "restaurant" we created Sunday evening with newly carved mini-pumpkins and a nod to fall with candlelight, stew, and homemade bread courtesy of Chef Daddy. (We won't mention the triple digit heat of Monday. We shall bask in the beckoning of fall.)
As the music played and we played everything slowed...the spinning, the fight for my attention. I sat in wonder and took moments to think. I watched and learned. Mason executed his puzzle building plans, announcing key strategies as he felt appropriate, giving sideways glances at his sister who was making up her own rules for the game we were about to embark on. "How will you even play that without the cards, Ellie? You won't even know how far to move."
"We will use our brains to know," Ellie replied with confidence. She did not need the rules, she was creating her own. We began to play. I took her lead and somehow my brain told me how much to move and when it wasn't right, her brain showed me the way. Mason quietly kept eyeing such play as he built his puzzle. It must have taken everything he had to not scream at her, for she was not playing by the rules. Yet somehow, maybe it was the music, it took over and it wasn't long before one of his glances at our game moved up and locked into mine. That's when it happened. He got it. A grin broke his seriousness, not a wink exactly, but it was his way of doing so. He suddenly knew that she was okay. It would be okay that she wasn't following "the rules" she was letting her brain be our guide.
Somehow in the letting it play out, we all figured things out and found the right time to leave those games and puzzles and laugh and play one together. As they set up one of daddy's "favorites" they put all the pieces out without arguing and said, "Daddy would be blue but he's not here." He was probably okay with that. The land of candy is not where he likes to reside. We played on and Ellie allowed Mason to lead the way this time and he did so with a bit less control.
It is a dance they say...life. I love the quote, "Life is a dance. Sometimes you lead. Sometimes you follow." I don't know who said it, but I love it. When I begin to spin again, I hope to find my lead and follow them to greatness.
