To Wake Up Playing

When I was a kid, Daddy would always buy corsages for Mom and me to wear to church on Mother's Day. I'm not sure if it was just a Southern tradition, but on Mother's Day, all the girls and women wore corsages ... white if your mother had passed away, red if your mom was living. When my children were old enough, they began their own Mother's Day tradition for me ... cooking breakfast. I thought about all the times they would get up early to cook and then "surprise" me with breakfast in bed, and I especially remember the times the eggs were crunchy because they had a shell or two in them ... makes me smile just thinking about those mornings. I've spent a lot of time over the last couple of days skipping down memory lane when it comes to my kiddos and Mother's Days gone by ... the year Matt played his guitar and sang "Happy Mother's Day to you, dear Mom" ... the year Brad wrote me a 4-page letter ... the year Meghann gave me a hug and a kiss every hour for the whole day. My mind couldn't help but linger on so many of those memories as I had dinner and saw a movie with Brad and Shelby last night, walked in a 5K Mother's Day walk with Meghann this morning and talked with Matt on the phone this afternoon. I've got great kids ... kids who bless me not just on Mother's Day, but every single day since the days they were born.

When I was in Canada over Easter visiting Matt, Becca and Coraline, one of my favorite things was to hear her when she woke up in the mornings or after her naps. She's such a happy little girl, and I loved hearing her laughing and talking in her crib from the moment she opened her eyes. Each time I heard her, it made me think of my own children and how much I loved hearing them doing the same thing so many years ago. There is something so incredibly sweet about that to me, something so very sweet about hearing babies wake up happy and giggling and playing. Those are such special moments ... those are the kinds of moments that need to be savored and remembered and treasured forever. I've always loved to hear my children laugh ... I still love to hear them laugh and see them happy ... but those early morning baby giggles will always rank among my favorite Mom moments.

I share my house now with my two canine kids, Julie and Oliver, as those of you who've been reading my posts for any length of time well know. I wrote a while back about our morning routine ... the routine that was interrupted the morning Ollie decided to become a rabbit hunter. By the way, the score is now Ollie: 3, rabbits: 0, me getting sick in the yard because of Ollie's hunting prowess: 2 ... yesterday was not a good day for me to have to take care of dead rabbits. But back to our morning routine ... even though Ollie has lived with me for a couple of years now, it was only a week or so ago that I noticed something about him that I had never paid attention to before. The first thing he does every single morning when he jumps out of bed is grab a toy and start playing. Before he goes out to potty, before he hunts rabbits, before he eats, before he does anything else, Ollie runs and gets a toy and begins to play. In fact, sometimes I have to coax him to go outside because he doesn't want to stop playing. I stood in amazement the day that I finally noticed what Oliver does each morning ... my silly, pink-nosed, hopping wiener dog wakes up playing ... he wakes up playing ... Ollie wakes up playing.

Here's the thing ... at a time when I don't feel so great mentally or physically, I find myself thinking about babies who wake up giggling and noticing a wiener dog who wakes up playing. Coincidence or lesson? I wonder ... I wonder ... I wonder. To wake up playing ... hmmmm.