Monday, September 19, 2016

Treasuring the dandelion moments...

Yesterday evening, after a very enjoyable day, I gave Anne a bath. She lingered in there for a bit like she always does, playing with various water toys, then demanded that I put her into a sleeper. She's a very demanding child. ;-)

As I was cleaning up the post-bath mess, she went downstairs in her reindeer footed sleeper. Mike was outside mowing the lawn, and I could hear Anne opening the door to join him.

When I peeked out the window, Mike was pushing the lawnmower through the grass, while Anne, reindeer feet stuffed into her Elsa and Anna sneakers, was plucking cherry tomatoes from our backyard garden.

After they finished, I could hear Anne calling me outside. I obliged her.

She's standing in our driveway, all sleepered up still, with 3 dandelions in her hand that have gone to seed. She thrusts one towards me:

"Mom. Make a wish. Then you have to whisper it to yourself so that no one else can hear you, then blow the fluff off the dandelion. If all the fluff doesn't come off, you have to take it off with your fingers."

#bossy

"All right, honey."

*I follow the instructions*

"What did you wish for?"

"For my job to make me less sad."

*Anne looks contemplative*

"OK. Here is another dandelion. Do you have another wish?"

"Um, sure, let me..."

"Never mind, I will give you a wish. Wish for...a balcony on our house."

"A balcony?"

"Yes. I see lots of houses with them. Up there on top of the house."

*gestures towards the second floor*

"Um hum, yes."

"Balconies. They are nice. We could stand on it."

"Yes, indeed. We could do that."

"So wish for a balcony Mom."

"All right."

*follow instructions*

"Good. There is only 1 dandelion left. I will make the last wish."

Well. Now that that is settled. ;-)

So there Anne and I were, both in our pajamas, standing in the driveway holding empty dandelion stalks, and I thought to myself that in the end, those are the moments I will cherish and remember. Not the 25 frustrating student emails that were waiting for me when I logged in this morning. Not how tired I felt after my recent work days with this chaotic new teaching routine in tow. I'll remember dandelion fluff and wishes for balconies. And thank God for that.

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