Little things.

 

Bea is riding on two wheels. Yep, done are we with training wheels. One more milestone has come and gone. We've been pedaling up to the university near us so that she can ride, ride, ride along the sidewalk paths without the worry of traffic. It's so much fun. I'm trying to establish a routine where I grab a spot on the lawn to read, relax, play with my camera, whatnot, while she enjoys the freedom of riding solo - all within my eyesight. I hate to break it to the coming of age students, but this mama and her four year old are taking a liking to campus life. 

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Gosh, I really like her. I don't know if it's just who she is or because she's an only child, but she is such a great conversationalist. This girl can sit and talk. She has so much to share and so many big (like, existential) questions. So poised, she sits with her legs crossed, sips carefully from her mug, and begins her stories with lines like, "I heard the most unusal thing today, Mom." Sigh.

I remember when I was growing up, my mom was never a social mom. She kept to herself, didn't have "mommy friends", was obviously (as a single mom with six kids) very busy at home. But that's what she was after anyway -- her home and her family. She always said that we (her children) were her favorite people to be with.  She LIKED us. For who we were. For what we had to say or what we didn't have to say, for that matter. All six of us -- each and every one of us -- were so very different. We still are. No, she didn't try to be our friend, the cool mom in that guilty mom kind of way. Oh, no, she was MOM and she definitely was not cool. But she was the one person we didn't want to disappoint. The one we worked to make proud. She had a genuine respect in who we were as people. I always felt that. Unconditional love is quite a gift. 

I hope that's what Bea and I will be like. Actually, I hope we already are. We like being together. At ease with each other. She loves searching out coffee shops with me... Last night, I found her diverting sleep by thumbing through a Martha Stewart magazine she keeps mixed in with her fairy tales and chapter books. She delights in the little things. A beautiful sunrise. Wildflowers growing in the cracks of asphalt. The smell of wood burning. A grazing horse in a pasture.

Little things. That girl. She is something else. 

 

 

 

Comments

[Olivia]

This post made my heart feel so full. Your description of your mother: you should let her read that. That's what every mother hopes to hear from their child someday. Just beautiful.

[Nichole]

She clicks on my blog every now and then, so she'll stumble upon it, eventually. :) But, she knows it already. ...She knows how much I treasure her.

[Stephinie]

love.................