{Song clip. The first half is for Maren and the last half is for Jake. Only two days and a wake up to go...}
Yesterday, Tessa came over to play while her mommy went to a meeting at work.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute. Do you even know the emergency number in England? You don't. Oh boy..."
I wondered how Maren would deal with sharing her mama, her Daba and her toys. Would she get cranky? Would she cry? Would they fight? And, I'll be honest, as I got out the stroller for our walk to the playground, Maren got in a real huff that I was planned to put Tess in it instead of her. She complained, sniffed dramatically and then she complained some more. I could hear her grumblings as I was prying the stroller out of the closet. Between tugs on the stroller and a few grumbles of my own about how tiny English closets are, I hissed "hush" or "be nice" or some other equally useless directive. But, once the stroller was set up with Tess was happily munching a snack inside it, I took Maren aside for a chat.
Instead of telling her to hush or be nice, I told her the truth. I told her that Tess was here without her mommy for a few hours. I told her that to take care of Tess, it was going to take teamwork and everyone had a job to do. I told her my job was to feed Tess her snack, Daba's job was to push the stroller and her job was to cheer Tess up if she was sad. And you know what? She stopped sniffing and started helping. She did playground tricks to make Tess laugh, chased her around to give her hugs, retrieved "Monkey" and "pink blankie" when our little friend would ask for her lovies and she eagerly shared her toys.
"Thanks for sharing the playdough but keep your stinky feet to yourself, crazy hippy child."
The time flew by and soon Kris arrived to take Tess home. Then Daba left to meet a friend for lunch in the city. So what did we do? Well, we puttered around our quiet house.
"Ah, Lambie. This big girl thing is for the birds."
We did things that make our souls settle down, stretch out, sink down and relax.
"Mom was supposed to throw these jeans away 3 weeks ago. Maybe she's waiting for the third hole to appear. Three is a lucky number, I guess..."
And as we did these quiet things, I thought about how much Maren is growing up. How proud I am of her kind heart. And how grateful I am for this glimpse at what an amazing big sister she will be...someday.
"Sibling? No, no. What I really want is a kitty cat. Named Footsy."
Listening to Tess babble, excitedly eeking out a word or two. Watching Maren show love, giving up her own comforts to make a friend happy. Carrying Tess, light as a fairy, and feeling Maren hugging my legs - both girls looking at me with blue eyes bright and shining. Well, dear readers, as silly as it sounds, this is when I feel the most me. The moments in which my life makes sense and is lived easily. The hours that I know I will replay in my mind when I am old and gray. These are the best days. These are the salad days...
See you soon.
PS: As you can see, I'm in desperate need of a new pair of jeans. I hate to throw out my beloved Lucky jeans but it's time. What are your favorite British brands? Or do you know of a place in England that I can buy a new pair of Lucky jeans? My family thanks you for your advice...
Linking up with: Sweet Shot Tuesday, And then she snapped, communal global, Me as a mother, Wordless Wednesdays
