just add water
April 21, 2011 § 1 Comment
Two pair of hands, palms touching, fingers intertwined between mischievous smiles. One, two, three! The girls sounded off in high-pitched tones as they synchronized their dives. I watched their pony tails plunge beneath the water’s surface followed by a riotous burst of giggles as they reappeared, eyes bulging behind swim goggles. My daughter’s spontaneous friendship born of convenience and nurtured in play.
The girls shared conspiratorial smiles as they paced themselves in the pool; eager to catch one another’s attention while escaping the watchful gaze of the instructors. I hid my amusement behind the pages of a magazine, lost to the unintentional performance. Another child sat on the periphery gauging her classmates’ antics. I noted the child’s progress from tears to triumph and wished her a place in my daughter’s game. Sure enough, all three girls were soon a tangle of limbs as they splashed side by side.
With a full heart I sent my daughter a smile and nod, sharing a moment of gratitude that she gathers others in kindness and friendship.
my nest
April 8, 2011 § Leave a comment
The kitchen was filled with the smell of banana bread and my countertops were a glorious disaster of baking, painting, and paper mache. Indoor adventures unfolding on a whim and with little regard for order my nest was a mess, but my home felt in order.
My children’s focus wrapped around a project, they unravel their thoughts and I am lost to their company. When they were babies I would marvel at their sleeping form and wait for them to wake, eager for their joyful smiles and wide-eyed wonderment. As they have grown, school day routines have replaced the reasonless rhythm of chance discoveries on impulsive explorations as we move through our mornings in a frantic effort to fall in to order.
Visiting with my children, as they molded creations with paint stained fingers tangled in sticky strips of colorful paper, I wished there were more time to play.
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.
playtime
February 12, 2011 § Leave a comment
Unstructured pleasure, the promise of creative expression. Play-Doh and paint; Legos and Barbie; costumes and science experiments litter my house. I stuff the evidence in cabinets, closets, and boxes, but they tumble free each day after school completely taking over my weekends. These are the trappings of my children’s playtime.
I wonder when we first pack up our crayons and stow them away, too big to color outside the lines. In restless moments my fingers itch with a need to create something new. I call it dallying, this grown-up play; something smaller than a hobby and more fun for the spontaneous endeavor.
The crayons and paints of my childhood have turned into unfinished scrapbooks; Play-Doh has been replaced with unexamined recipes. I enlist my children as culinary cohorts and we stumble through a new recipe; stretching the tools and ingredients across the kitchen island we tinker together. Some days I embrace a new recipe as an afterschool surprise, gifting my moment of frivolous fun.
Scrapbooking I leave unfinished, my pleasure is in the process. I purchase beautiful paper and embellishments with the same enthusiasm as my daughter selecting costume accessories. My friends and I gather like children on a playground and settle into paper play. I set down my work and absorb the directionless chatter, happy for the company.
I welcome these interruptions to my routine, then carefully pack away my toys.
scribblechic 