bubbles
March 31, 2011 § Leave a comment
Waking to an unexpected family day I imagined museums and landmarks filling our free time together. Instead, my children trifled away an afternoon of leisure chasing bubbles with makeshift swords and rediscovering the outdoors that has slumbered these past months beneath a blanket of snow and ice. Understanding my children’s need to absorb the warm weather, I added bubbles to sunshine and we played. Unceremoniously, each of us picked up sticks and jabbed at rainbows tickling the air. This perfectly uneventful day will linger in my mind long after my children are grown, beautifully centered in togetherness.
table talk
March 9, 2011 § Leave a comment
We are a family of four, messy and unpredictable in our fragmented mealtime exclamations. I look forward to the sharing between bites as I capture lost moments of my loved ones’ days. The exuberant exchanges are fueled by a simple tradition borrowed from another family. We play Hello.
Hello is toddler speak, translated it means High Low. My husband and I first introduced the exchange when our daughter was two, and the name Hello has become an endearment reminiscent of her early sharing, an emphatic “hello.” Gathered around the table and connected in a moment free of phones, television, friends, and obligations each family member takes a turn sharing a High and alternately Low moment from their day. Some days the effort passes quickly, on other occasions it offers a unique opportunity to be present in one anther’s lives.
We celebrate the Highs of accomplishment with the same energy we channel to nurture one anther through difficult Lows. Our moments are equals. There is no hierarchy by which we measure one another’s joy or sorrow. It is a moment of connection to one another, our days divided we gather and exchange hellos.
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