It All Began So Innocently. . .

The sun was shining.  That’s it.  I place all the blame on the sunshine.  It had been several days since the warmth of the sun’s rays had flooded our window’s and I was knee deep in the post-holiday-back-to-school-blues.  But on this particular morning I looked at the kitchen floor and saw it. . . I saw the long shadows cast by the sun emerging out of the clouds.  I saw the outline of our kitchen chairs reflected on the hardwood and when Meadow raised her hands in the air, the blank wall mimicked her enthusiasm. 

The sun was up and so were my spirits! 

As if I was given a mega dose of caffeine (as if caffeine would even effect me), the girls and I danced around the kitchen and I somehow felt alive again.  My first thought was let’s do something fun.  The conversation in my head when something like this. . . she’s one now, I’m sure it will be fine.  I’m sure she will understand what to do with finger paints as long as we show her.  It might get a bit messy, but we don’t have a showing and I’m sure it won’t be that bad.  It all sounded perfect in my head.  I dragged out the paper, crayons, markers and yes, the paints.  This would be fun. 

We began by showing her the proper way to finger paint.  It took about 3 seconds to see that I had over-estimated Meadow’s. . . umm, maturity? 

Sure, go ahead.  You can paint Meadow.

Chanelle took her work very seriously and Meadow didn’t seem to mind a bit.

In fact, Meadow was quite pleased with it.

I can’t tell you when I have laughed that hard.  As I stood back and watched my girls do their thing all I could think to myself was. . . I will never, ever, ever forget this moment. 

And I’ll tell you something. . . I won’t.  Paint was flying, laughter was rolling,  and joy filled the kitchen.  Through my laughter I said over and over to Chanelle. . . this is so funny, this is so funny, oh my goodness, this is so funny. 

After all was said and done and paint was wiped from fingers, faces,
ears and, well, everywhere else, I realized how precious these moments
are.  You can’t plan for them.  You can’t organize them.  And certainly,
you can’t predict them. These are the moments that just happen when I
am willing to be present (and a bit flexible) in the moment and when I’m
willing to let go and let my kids lead the way. 

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For the record:  The purpose of this post was simply to make you laugh, smile, or at least smirk a little bit.  If you did not do at least one of these. . . I advise you to see a physician. 

Have a happy day!