Stargazing & Building Blocks

Today I took the kids up to Bampa Bampa Howt in HC, we met Denise and Lulu there and played in the water for a bit, E said "An Nee-tee WAT!" about a hundred times. Archer said "Mom WATCH!" a hundred and two times. Shelly played with Lulu, and Lulu clapped her hands and splashed the water around. Then, the Big Discussion ensued. Are we going for a run? Who's coming? Who's biking? Do we have helmets?

Eventually everyone found their shoes (except the littlest two) and we gathered in the driveway... wandered out to the street... took off! Archer pulled E in the bike trailer, Shelly peddled alongside Arch. Aunt Nee-tee pushed a stroller and the rest of us (that's Bampaw, Mamaw, and Mom/me) just jogged. And chatted, and listened to the kids' chatter. It was a great run, we hardly noticed the two and a half miles that passed. The whole afternoon was all so casual, so relaxed and so enjoyable.

Tonight, well after bedtime, I was taking the garbage out to the street and paused to look up. The stars, shining faithfully down on us, so clear and bright tonight. And its not too hot or too cold, and I had noticed that Archer was still awake on the couch. I went in and told him to wrap up in his blanket and come with me. "Why?" he asked me at least five times, but I just told him to come with me. We went out and I laid down on my back on the driveway. He laid down with his head on my tummy and we talked. We talked about stars and airplanes. I asked Archer, do you think, twenty years from now when you're twenty eight, I mean twenty nine... Do you think you'll remember tonight? "Um... maybe not." Yeah, maybe not, but maybe yes.

Its so easy to let the opportunities slip by. This afternoon, I considered calling Denise to cancel the thing in HC, I was soooo tired and so behind on everything. But I didn't want to miss seeing her and catching up. Tonight it would have been fine to notice the stars and come back in, kiss Arch goodnight one more time, and go to bed. It was better not to cancel, even though I was a little tired. It was better to sneak Archer out of the house at the end of the day for a few minutes just the two of us. I'm so glad I didn't let the To Do list get in the way of building up the relationships with people I love. Even if we don't remember all the exact details of what happened today, they're more building blocks in the foundation of our relationship together, and those blocks are priceless.

Thanks for the picture Bampa!