I’ve been having “one of those days” – or maybe at this point, it’s one of those weeks. You know, where it totally slipped my mind I needed to post something for Friday. Or I had plans to submit things for contests, and the date passed. So today, instead of the paranormal, I’m considering unexpected gifts, and what happens when you don’t get what you planned.
I think there’s also something to be said for those days when no, perhaps you don’t get everything done on that endless list in your end, but perhaps what you do get done, was at least as important – perhaps more so.
Last Thursday we had one of those rare September days which was hotter than almost every day we’d had all summer. My mom, the kidlet, and I picked up my grandparents, and then met my brother down where he works, at the Legislature Grounds. I think my daughter will always want to visit Uncle at work, since there’s a giant park, and water fountains, and soccer players, and, best of all, the wading pools and fountains laid out in front of the building with lots of happy young children.
It was such an unexpected day – we’d only planned to try and go as of Thursday, and no one could have predicted the record-setting temperatures. Yet I can still hear the sounds of the kids laughing, quiet murmurs of parents, as the kids splash in the pool. My kidlet giggles, and got her dress wet (we weren’t planning on going swimming!). She tried to hold it up as she walked, but of course, there’s only so much a two-year-old can remember. My grandma holds my daughter’s hand as she wades into the cold water, and I was half afraid of grandma tumbling in after! And my daughter tows “great-grandma” around wherever and whenever she can. We tease that grandma is on an exercise program and doesn’t know it: the visiting-great-grandchild-regime. With this, grandma, 93 this year, is expected to: get up and walk everywhere; to throw, kick, and catch balls; to take tea; and of course, to receive high-fives and hugs.
Great grandpa is not immune. While somehow grandma thought it was fine to climb two flights of stairs (in the heat!) just to spend a bit more time with my daughter, my brother, and I, grandpa knew he couldn’t. Yet he is always one in on a conspiracy with winks and tall tales. My daughter runs free and indulged in their garden as I did when I was that age.
I wonder how much my daughter will remember of these days, of these unexpected gifts. I remember my own great-grandmother, with visits to where she lived and sweets from the top-drawer of her bureau. But I suppose I will certainly always remember these days, and be so grateful that my little one experienced some of the joy of two people I love very much.
What about you? Any unexpected “gifts” lately?
Thanks for reading, and have a terrific week.
