Wednesday, April 1, 2009

It's 8 o'clock, and where are my kids?


It warmed up to 54 degrees today, and so, after dinner when the girls asked to go outside and swing I ushered them outside for some fresh air. It wasn't long before four other girls where in our backyard. I opened the windows so I could hear them play. I had to clean up after dinner and ready backpacks for tomorrow. I listened to their squeals as they played some imagination game about knights, dragons and princesses, always hearing the cacophony of girly giggles as I fluttered about the downstairs doing my chores. Then it got quiet(er). They had all moved to the front yard. I checked on them every few minutes and remembered my childhood days of running all over the neighborhood, trudging through many a neighbor's yard playing cops and robbers with the neighboorhood crew. We'd be gone for hours. Now here I was feeling like I couldn't let my kids be out of my earshot for a more than a few minutes. I wish I could just turn them loose and tell them to be home when it got dark. Those days are gone. Then I heard giggles, endless giggles. It had started to rain. A soft gentle rain that was extremely fun to play in. So it was getting dark, three of the older girls were called in, but I let my two continue to play with the next door neighbor. I ran upstairs and drew a bath after giving them a three minute warning. It was after 8, on a school night, and I had two soaking wet girlies still playing outside. I came downstairs three minutes later, as promised. They said goodbye to their friend and came inside, straight to the mudroom to strip.

"Thanks Mom for letting us play in the rain."

"yeah, and in the dark!"

"That was so cool! Can we do that again?"

Sure. It's only the beginning of spring (finally!)




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