DETAILS

I recently read a quote from a mother whose children had long since grown up. She stumbled across a memory of being outside with her children one afternoon and wished she could remember what they talked about, what they did, how they felt. What color was the blanket they sat on? What did they eat? She longed for details.


I want to remember. I want them to remember. So here are the details:




Outside on the green grass in the warm January sun were two of my children playing to their little hearts' content, imaginations running wild. The Tank was taking a much-needed nap. I sat in a chair soaking up the sun, trying to squeeze in a few paragraphs from a gardening book in between my roles in their story. In this story, Gage was a zookeeper. He had lined up four little ceramic crocodiles (that he got from Daddy's pet supply stuff) with a crate over them, obviously their cage. In his best zookeeper voice he convinced me that these were gentle crocodiles that were nice to humans. Did I want to hold one? Bella (who decided her name for this story was Savannah) pranced and danced, applied lip gloss again and again. Did I want to put some on? The zookeeper decided there would be races using the two exercise balls - hers gray, his blue. He and Savannah raced the balls to the sidewalk and back. He let her win over and over, by pretending to fall or running in slow motion. She was none the wiser and very proud of her victories. When the ball went in the street, the protective zookeeper put his hand out to stop her, looked both ways twice, and retrieved it. She hugged him and told him he was her best brother. They both waved hello to every car that drove by.

The afternoon ended when it was time for Gage to get ready for Tae Kwan Do. This time Daddy got to take him - the first time. I knew it was going to be special and wanted those boys to have a night of it. Gage raced in the door to tell me he earned his white belt along with a medal and a ceremonious breaking of a piece of wood with a swift kick. Very cool. Daddy got him a Happy Meal.

I got to spend some time alone with Paisley after the other two went to bed, because of her long, late nap. I decided that time alone with Paisley will cure what ails me anytime. We sang ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, played Pat-A-Cake, Eye-Winker Tom Tinker, fixed each other's hair, wrestled, tickled, and most of all we laughed. I know she felt special getting to stay up later than the other two.

She didn't say it, of course, but I could see it in her eyes.