I'm helping Asher because he's eating a snack right before dinner and it's messy and it's everywhere. I take a towel and wipe his face and the towel gets all gooey so I throw it down the stairs. I'll wash it later with the rest.
I pick him up and think about how heavy he's getting and we wash silky smooth hands at the kitchen sink. He starts to say fish, fish, fish, over and over while he watches the fish in the window above the sink. I need to feed the fish, I think.
He's begging and so I say no gum you just had some, as I pinch fish food. He cries with that deep crinkling line between his brows and my heart hurts but he still just had gum.
There's a mess on the floor from the late snack so I sweep it. I hurry because I hear loud sounds from the movie in the living room and I wonder if it's too scary and I should go check.
It's not actually night at all, but I've started Movie Night early, making it Movie Afternoon because I'm tired. The loud growling sounds are from Beauty and the Beast and I should sit with Miles so he's not scared of The Beast or Gaston. We'll talk about it later because Asher is standing there with a smashed beach ball, acting out how to blow it up, his body bouncing with excitement because of the asking, so I reach for it.
Just then Ryan comes up the stairs and he says I'm home, traffic was terrible. I roll my eyes because his office is in the basement and he's silly. I say look, there's Daddy while I put the deflated ball on the counter, distracted and relieved. Asher walks slowly to the living room, wishing his ball was blown up. Ryan asks how goes it and I say Movie Night is Movie Afternoon, so he rubs my shoulders and he goes to the living room to see his boys.
I start to think about dinner. We have steaks. Ryan should start the grill and we'll have steaks... but with what?
The movie ends and I kiss Miles five times on the cheek and he asks why I kissed him so many times and I say it's because I love him so many times. Then Asher shouts with laughter and says toot, and I wonder why boys have to be so obsessed with bodily functions.
The sun blasts through the front window and I'm glad it's finally out. I wonder if the grass is dry enough for mowing. Our lawn could use some mowing. I hear a bang just then and so my heart jumps and I wait to see if there will be crying. There's none because it was just Ryan dropping an overloaded laundry basket to the floor. THUD! He's making room to play.
squealing and shouting and wrestling and giggling...
Go out and start the grill, please, I say to Ryan, and Miles responds with his silly voice put on and a, You're a pig, Mom! So I stop and say I know you're trying to be funny but name-calling isn't very nice. He asks why and I try to explain. He asks more and more whys so I say that's just how it is.
They all go out in the backyard for the grilling of the steaks but Ryan forgets something so he comes to the front door from the garage while he's looking. It's locked so I stop the making of the sides and open it while I hear Miles say something about a dead chipmunk. I fling it open fast and I run to the back door to stop him from touching dead things.
There's no dead chipmunk but he thinks so and he's standing too close to the grill and I tell him Move back, sweetie and he says why. I explain for a long time about burning because he's so intrigued and asks so many questions.
I go back in and I try to sit down and write even though it makes no sense to write at this very moment. Then Ryan comes in and says the grill is ready for the steaks and I say Huh? He says he already asked for them once but I guess I didn't hear him.
My fingers pound the keyboard a minute or two, but then I figure I should get up and boil some starchy goodness of sweet corn because the steaks have finally gone outside to turn from red to brown.
And then I stop and listen, the voices carrying through the breeze and the back door.
My family.
I step outside with the sun and the smell of grilling. To not only hear, but see, the very best things that have ever happened to me and to sit in the sun and listen out there instead of from inside by myself doing things.
We stop and we eat and we say take a few more bites, and then there are piles of sticky and gooey plates and small silverware and cups strewn about. I start to move them and then stop half-way done because it's late. Time for the bath to wash the dirt and sand off that soft and smooth skin. Ryan says keep the water in the tub over and over and then they have to get out for the not listening and they cry.
We fumble with jammies and night lights and we read and wrangle. We fill cups and say prayers and give kisses and tell jokes and say get back to bed, little man.
Then the lights are out and the quiet comes in just a little while, settling over all the things that didn't get done.
I sit with a sigh while tired covers me like a blanket and I think how very strangely beautiful it is to miss them while they sleep.
48 clicked right here to comment:
This is such a beautiful post. I love how you write. I am enchanted. And I love your music too. Really lovely visit. Nice to meet you. I am stopping over from the Moxie Media site. Trying to get to know everyone on the panel. : ) Your little about me bit is so well written also. I just love it : )
once again, i wonder if you are watching my family when you write these :-)
love this post and love your writing, I recently started following...so I thought that I would say hi. :)
Lovely post! Ryan is a hoot! "Im home, traffic was terrible!" That was funny.
Good seeing you last night! Always good!
I too, laugh when I am so exhausted from the responsibilities of the day only to miss them when they are gone.
such beauty in the every day
That is exactly what I was thinking!
Life is beautiful.
The longest days and the shortest years...
Great post. Ryan's joke about terrible traffic made me chuckle.
I miss them a lot and love them immensely when they sleep.
Steph
Fresh stuff...I loved this. Sometimes "a day in the life"s are my favorite kind of post.
And Ryan's joke made me ALSO roll my eyes because it sounds like the kind of continual joke that my husband would make every time he came up the stairs.
You are magic. You took just an everyday normal sequence of events and turned it into poetry.
Aww I miss mine too when she sleeps. What a beautiful evening/afternoon! I loved reading this.
This was great...I saved it as "unread" so I could read it twice.
Isn't it funny how we miss them about five minutes after they fall asleep?? One of life's mysteries. (But those first five minutes??! Sheer bliss.)
Sounds like Heaven :)
Oh how I miss those days. that is what I kept thinking as I read this post. As tired as I was at the end of each day, they were precious...and I miss them. Especially as I sit here on the sofa in a quiet house because all the teenagers are out and about.
I love this post. It's all craziness, and it's all wonderful. :)
beautiful. simply beautiful.
This one hurt. Because you wrote it so perfectly, and I wish I still had it.
I think you may have just summed up the extraordinary ordinary in one beautiful post.
This post was just lovely. Love it. And you.
Absolutely beautiful.
This one choked me up (again) since I am dropping off my second son at the dorms tomorrow. Nostalgia. Longing. Worry. I will miss him while I sleep too. Thanks.
You have a gift, my friend.
Your blog is aptly named.
The writing here is incredible! I feel like it's the beginning of a book and I'm eager to read the next chapter... :)
Heather, you are the real deal. Such a poetic soul. It's a joy to read your work, particularly since, for me, much of what you write prompts reminiscences of when mine were little.
Thank you for that.
You have a gift for finding the extraordinary in the ordinary. How simple and sweet this was... How precious to find the reason behind all of the dishes and laundry and gooey mess. It's love.
Dang, girl.
This is fantastic Heather. It is just perfect, and so very true. It is such a balancing act, this parenting gig. Love you.
Love this! Made me wish I could turn back time...the years pass much too quickly!
I'm just sitting here trying to think of something worthy to comment. But, your post really said it all.
I just love this. Beautiful and it really spoke to my heart.
That was a beautiful post, but it made me tired. I've been there.
Oh, this was one of my favorite posts of yours! Lovely. Such a beautiful reconstruction of your ordinary day. Extraordinary? Yes.
Just lovely.
Life. is. good. :-)
You always manage to take the mundane and make it oh, so magical. This is life--as it should be. You exude love for your family.
This is beautiful. Exactly the kind of thing I want to write for my kids to read when they get older. They won't remember, and neither will I, but it says so much about our lives right now.
Absolutely beautiful post.....really touched me.....really.
I read this and I just get all warm and fuzzy inside. It's these little moments that really mean so much. And because it could practically be an evening in my life.
Oh and because it's SO COOL that we can have a space like this to document it and hopefully never forget...
*Sigh*
This was beyond sweet. I mean that.
You are so sweet! In writing and in person. Thats a killer cool combo!
How can the days be so long, when the years are so short?
So beautiful. Truly.
I especially loved washing the silky smooth hands in the sink. I feel like I'm right there.
And then all that love.
What could be better?
You have a way of making the average seem so beautiful. I know that's because it is but I love how you elevate those little things we do daily into something far greater than the sum of the task.
As always beautifully written. You wrote what is exactly on so momma's hearts! WONDERFUL!
Between you & your readers, I don't think there is anything more to be said. As someone up above noted, your blog title sums it up, and this post is like a very long subtitle. :)
It was just beautiful. Being still, and being conscious: these are the gifts we can give ourselves on a daily basis. And I believe that if we do, we will be grateful for all our livelong days.
your children are very very blessed
So beautiful and so true.
Loves.
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