Playing All Day

To listen to them create their own games. To watch their kindness towards one another if one has fallen down into the dirt and rocks & to offer a helping hand. To witness them helping one another work towards a common goal, something that really has no importance to me, but to them, is the whole purpose of that moment. To know that we have no where else to be. Nothing else to “get done” other than what lies before us, the now, this moment. To be a part of the richness present within their childhood~ those are the gifts of today.

I heard Hunter say to Ben “Oh, you sit right here little guy” and outstretch a hand to him to help him climb up the 4 wheeler as they pretended to drive. I heard Hunter ask politely what he could do to help while Katie was digging out a deeper canal for the mountain water to run. I watched Katie rescue Ben after he slipped in the snow, holding him safely, comforting him and helping get the snow out of his boot (yes, there still is a ton of it about 200 feet higher than where we are).

Everyone has adjusted already despite the short amount of time we have been here. The cats are hunting lizards. The kids are enjoying getting back into Nature and finding things to do in it. Katie is running through the tall grass chasing the dog. The dog is running too but I think she is more likely feeling like she is herding Katie than being chased. Ben has spent the better part of the afternoon playing outside in just his underwear. That is a good look for him....mud boots and a t-shirt hanging down over most of his underwear but not quite. Today, we were miles from home in the middle of nowhere and, of course, Hunter has to go to the bathroom ~ #2. So he adjusted just fine to that sort of business. Actually, he had been asking the entire day before if he could go out in nature. I have to draw the line somewhere, ya know? But, there we were, and that was going to be the only solution. Funny how some kids are just born into being a part of nature and adjusting well to that. I tell ya what, Hunter would rather go in the forest than at Target!!

We 4 wheeled up Log Canyon road this afternoon, just me and three kids on the 4 wheeler. We just had to stop as soon as we saw snow we could play in. We must have been there for over an hour; Just stopped in the middle of the trail, skiing down the snow, throwing snowballs, and then stepping one foot over, kicking off our boots and splashing in the tiny little stream created from that snow melting. I just faded away and the three of them all just played. It occurred to me what a gift it is to create NOTHING to do, to have no where to go, to just be able to remain silent and never have to let their play end. I just stood by, thinking, appreciating all the beauty around me and just stayed quiet. They just played and played and it was as though that was all there was, nothing else, except that moment and the “work” they had created for themselves. I felt so blessed to have this day ~ to just be in my own thoughts while they were all so content just to play in the mountain waters and dirt.

When we were here in February, I remember hearing that we were in an avalanche warning. We did not really know what exactly that meant or what we should do about that. So, whatever, just filed that away. But today as we were heading up the dirt road behind that cabin, it was clear the destruction an avalanche can have. Trees were snapped in half like they were toothpicks. Then in other places it was merely just the tip of an evergreen or birch tree that lay across the road. We were in awe with the power, obviously no longer present, but was once there. Eventually, we had to turn back around because there was too much snow and not enough road; just a size of about the width of the 4 wheeler and maybe 12 inches and then the cliff. We were smart. We turned around. As soon as I got the 4 wheeler turned around, Ben shouted, “Mama! You saved the day!” It's certainly nice to be someone's hero!

Katie brought with her a very special “little one”, Sparkle. We stopped to pick up a branch Katie insisted was so beautiful we had to take it back to the cabin and show dad. Suddenly, she screams out, “MOM! Sparkle is missing. I dropped Sparkle.” And then hysterical crying.

Oh boy! Please, please, please let us not have lost her, such a special gift from Granny Evergreen, who brought Sparkle to Katie last year in Kindergarten with Mrs. Cassidy. Oh, not Sparkle, the only special little doll she will most likely cherish and save forever. Not this one. Not today.

So, back up the snowy mountain track we went. Katie crying hysterically, Hunter, Ben & I scanning the dirt road. I just looked up into the canyon, out into the beautiful blue sky and just said a little prayer, just tossed out that energy into the universe, “please”. And before we knew it Katie is yelling out that she sees her, face down in the dirt. Sparkle....no more adventures for you. But, really it has been a good thing. Nothing like the fear of something being lost and gone forever to reignite love and affection towards it~ I think that must apply to just about everything from a little doll to a person. As soon as we got home, she started making a little clay soup bowl, plate, cup and saucer & a spoon and fork. After all, she was hungry after that near escape. I could practically hear Katie sighing in relief the better part of the afternoon.

Scott has been gone most of the day tending to things at the farm. It seems that as soon as we arrive, there is much to take care of, wrap up or initiate. So, although it is bedtime for the kid's, he is still out and about. The machine that cuts the hay is being delivered tonight, the pump is not working, all kinds of good stuff. So, I am just sitting here watching the shadows slowly move across the hills and mountains, listening to the boys playing with their bow & arrow while Katie is still feeding Sparkle.