A Day to Remember

Yesterday was one of those once in a lifetime simply spectacular days. After church, I went out to lunch with my parents, then hightailed it "home" to their house in the country. Read the paper and watched some football with Dad before we both nodded off for a much needed nap. Then my sister arrived with her four munchkins in tow, well - make that three munchkins and one mini-munch, as the baby is just seven months old.

My sister and I and the three oldest (7, 5-3/4, and 3) headed out for a walk down the old country road. What makes it a country road? Well, in over an hour, just two cars passed us on the crumbly old red dog road. Donkeys came up to greet us and cows stared at us from down in the pasture. This is the same road responsible for my sister and I losing every single candy bar sales contest while we were in school. When there's only six houses along a one-mile stretch of road, and most of the inhabitants no longer possess teeth with which to enjoy chocolate bars, it doesn't make for the best sales territory. Only Halloween was less profitable!

The kids were hoping to see a few sheep at the first neighboring farm. In our day, it was occupied by an elderly couple and "young Dave," their bachelor son in his seventies. We would dread being sent down there to buy eggs, as we were sure to be engaged in an hour of conversation by the old folk. An hour of conversation is one thing; an hour of the same conversation everytime ("what's your name, honey?) can be comical to eleven and twelve year olds more anxious in fishing for crawdads and minnows in the creek.

But yesterday we were greeted at the old farm first by Mack, a delightful yellow Lab, and then his owner, a gracious man in his late forties with growing kids of his own. He invited us up to see his new puppy, and then got some crackers for the kids to feed the fish in his fishpond. We stood and talked for half an hour while the kids enjoyed the dogs and fish. Then we headed back for home, stopping with my niece to pick wildflowers by the side of the road, while the boys gathered treasures of their own liking - what's a boy without a stick or rock in his pocket? As we watched the kids skipping ahead of us, my sister and I held hands and just savored the moment together in silence. I can't say for her, but seeing her kids delight in the same things we'd enjoyed as children almost made me forget I'm turning forty this year. I even had to remind my sister of that strange but true fact.

The day wasn't complete until the kiddos had their PJs on and snuggled on the couch to listen to Mee-maw read "Mother's Glasses," a favorite poem by Edgar A. Guest which reminds us all of our beloved Gram.

A day like yesterday makes getting up for work on Monday a little tougher and I'm behind on my laundry now of course, but sometimes it's good to just put aside the have-to's and indulge in some want-to's!