They were home. All five of us under the same roof again.
Extra long moments at bedtime tonight.
The eldest and I discussed how he should learn to combine the talent he has at athletics with a humble spirit. We talked about what that meant and what teamwork is about. We read one of his football books and I tucked him in twice.
The baby and I snuggled as he regaled me with tales of the fish he caught at the farm. He explained that despite their best efforts to keep the perch alive overnight, they’d died with all that dirty bayou water and no one to freshen it and feed them. He asked if he could fix my hair, and I laid there as he reclipped my wayward mob and hoped this wasn’t the last time. We read the story of a record-holding Super Bowl quarterback. He hadn’t been picked in the NFL draft and had to go work as a grocery store stocker after being passed over. Now that’s a story, I exclaimed as we turned the page.
The boys went to the farm with dad while little bit stayed with me over the weekend, so tonight we swapped. I heard the whispers of conversations in her room as she and daddy snuggled and swapped stories. The light was out but he had a flashlight on. I could hear the tune of I Love by Tom T Hall from the other side of the door, I love little baby ducks, old pickup trucks…
There’s a lot of posts I’d started over the weekend. They’ll trickle their way out this week (hopefully).
But after two weeks of some scary health symptoms, these moments felt so monumental I had to ink them down to remember.
I helped the Daisy Scouts earn their Paris Peace Patch on Friday afternoon. We learned about a girl who won the Nobel Peace Price and why kindness is so critical to achieving peace. We dropped markers into a bucket whenever someone would name a kind act you could do, and kicked the bucket over (HARD!) when someone listed an unkind act. Each of us have kindness buckets we need to fill, and one way is to fill other’s.
I felt my bucket filling up tonight. Sweet kisses and hugs and stories told in whispers and songs and books and warm blankets and stuffed animals.
Evening can all too often bring with it frenzy and forgetfulness and overdue work. Bedtime can be barked orders and exhaustion. But this evening, well it was Exhibit A for how kindness achieves peace.
Thankful for these moments and prayerful I don’t rush pass the chance to create more.
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