Hey friend, how are you doing today? Have you had a chance to enjoy your weekend? It’s pretty nice here…the kids played outside for a while earlier and actually asked to go back in because it was “too hot.” Pretty good for late September if you ask me!
This past week I had a special moment with my youngest daughter, Layla. She just started kindergarten at the beginning of September. It’s so weird to think of her at real school, sitting at a desk, listening to someone else teach her things (that she may or may not ever need…but I’m not going to go there). I’ve been walking to school with them this year, something in the back of my mind about Layla deciding she doesn’t really want to go to school that day and walking back home by herself, just makes me feel the need to deliver her safely to her school door. Then at 11:20, I walk back through the field and pick her up.
Tuesday was a day like any other. The usual questions of “who brought snack today?” and “what did they bring for snack?” and “what did you learn today?” (Which is normally met with the response, “ummmmm, nothing.” This response REALLY makes me wonder why I even bother to send her. Oh well, I’m sure she probably learned SOMETHING.) It was a beautiful, sunny day, too warm for her fleece sweater, so I took it, and her backpack for her. Off we went, walking through the field, when she decided she was going to show me her amazing skipping skills. It’s so cute when little kids learn to skip…it’s a little uncoordinated at first but when they get the rhythm, off they go! So away she skipped!
When she got tired, she stopped to wait for me to catch up. Such a beautiful little girl, eyes as blue as the sky and hair like gold – especially when the sun is shining on it, soft pink cheeks and a smile that lights up a room. She put her little hand in mine and we just walked. It was such a profound moment for me. Just walking with my daughter. Whew, I’ve got tears in my eyes, just remembering. I mean, why did this simple act, that we do every day, of holding her hand as we walked, have such an impact on my heart? We do it every day. But for some reason, that Tuesday, it was burned into my memory – truly a moment frozen in time that I don’t think I’ll ever forget. Such a gift.
For me, it was a reminder to slow down and enjoy the little things. So often I get so wrapped up in all the things on my “to-do list,” that I forget to watch my kids enjoy life. So carefree, so innocent. And really, in 20 years when they’re all grown up and maybe have little girls of their own, what am I going to remember? How on September 21st, I was able to cross EVERY single thing off my “to-do list?” Or will it be that moment, holding my little girl’s hand, hair glowing in the sun, as we walked home from school?
Blessings,
Natasha
Natasha Reynolds 