My wife and oldest son went to Arkansas with her family to bury her Great Grandmother with her husband and the rest of her family. They left Garth, my one and a half year old, and me here yesterday night around 5:30PM. Garth goes down around 7:30, so last night was uneventful except finishing watching the documentary series about Thomas Jefferson I started a week ago. That’s why I have had all the posts about Jefferson lately. He was amazing to say the least.
He died on the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration Of Independence, so did his old friend John Adams. July 4th, 1826. John Adam’s last words were Jefferson still lives, except he didn’t know Jefferson had also passed just a few hours before. They both held on for the Anniversary of their Great Achievement, The Great Experiment, Democracy, The United States of America!
Garth and I slept in until 9 this morning, had hot tea with milk and sugar, and waffles, with butter and syrup. He loves his hot tea, just like his Daddy. We did some running around, dropped by the house to drop off our groceries, switched the laundry, and then off to my parents house for a visit. More Hot Tea! That’s where I got it from. We’re Scottish but we drink more tea than the English. Garth still full from all the waffles, didn’t want lunch, so we went home folded clothes and then it was nap time. Daddy laid down with him and we both had a beautiful afternoon nap together. When we go up we did Garth’s two most favorite things. We went outside, and we played in the dirt.
If that kid could live outside and sleep outside he would. He loves it outside and never wants to come in the house. I put wiffle balls on the tee ball stand, while he knocked them across the yard. At one and a half this kid who is only as tall as the bat can hit a ball off the stand and knock it half way across the yard. Daddy is the ball placer and runner to get the balls. Daddy frankly needs the exercise. When he was tired of hitting balls we grabbed the Tonka trucks and sat in the part of the yard I have never been able to get grass to grow in, and Daddy and Son sat in the dirt and played.
I remember as a child in Idaho where I would sit in a pile of dusty dirt playing, digging, getting as much dirt on me as I did in the back of the dump truck. Garth was having a ball. Unlike my father I sat right down there with him and got filthy. God it was great. It was like being transported back forty or more years. The crisp fall air, leaves all over the place, blue jeans that looked brown from the dirt. We dug, dumped, filled trucks, used the front loader to fill the truck. We both had trouble getting up when we were done, Garth because he’s only one and half, and me because I am forty-five and am not used to sitting on my butt on the ground.
My dad would get mad at me when I was a kid about coming home covered in dirt, and gripe about the state of my clothes. Garth and I dusted our selves off, went inside and washed our hands and faces, he got a diaper change, and then we fixed dinner. After dinner it was playing make believe, him bringing me book after book to read until it was bath time. After a bath and jammies, we read more books, a couple of songs, and then he went to bed. I can’t remember such a tiring, but fun and soul fulfilling day in years. Mommy and brother should be back sometime late tonight. The whole family will be together for breakfast. And Yes More Tea.
Garth asked about More Tea about six times while getting ready for bed. I hadn’t posted anything because I was busy being a little boy again with my son. As I get ready to get back to working on my novel before bed four hours from now, I feel tired but my soul and heart stills has that child like spirit again. Children can be irritating, troublesome, and make you want to scream sometimes. They can also remind you of the wonder of reading, discovering stories, imagining, dressing up, coloring, playing with match box and hot wheel cars. Sitting in dirt, feeling just fall through your fingers, feeling the fall sun on your face, the crisp air, and transport you to lost times and forgotten pleasures of life. God Bless them. God Thank You for my children!
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