Swinging Sisters

Beginning our theme for April, Habits for a Happy Mom. A habit I’ve learned is to stop and take in my window view. To pause – right in the midst of the day – and to notice…

The backdoor swings shut.

It’s my cue to peek, just a bit, through my kitchen window. I lean over as I put the big pot on the stove. She’s swinging. Long legs scrape the dirt. Kick up dry, orange dust.

She’s singing now. Leaning way back on that swing – the swing her almost thirteen years are too big for. I can’t hear but can tell she’s singing and swinging freely.

The backdoor shuts again as I turn the water on to boil. Now, littlest girl sits in the swing beside eldest girl. Her legs have a hard time reaching the ground. So they pump. Littlest smiles at the accomplishment. Leans way back like big sister. Goldilocks dangle.

They giggle.

I set the table then peek again. They barely swing back and forth now. And talk. Their sister smiles make me smile.

I say grace early.

Give thanks for the now.

I ask for this moment to freeze. Just now.

Don’t grow up girls. Stay twelve a while longer. And, please, don’t get anywhere near five.

Up in the air I go flying again,

Up in the air and down

~ The Swing by Robert Louis Stevenson

~My Window View written alongside The Moonboat Cafe~

Since I wrote this, these two girls of mine turned 13 and five years old. I’m glad I stopped to notice those swinging sisters last summer.

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-Tricia homeschools five children from preschool to middle school. She’s forsaken life in the drive thru lane for the road home. She’s saving bucks and her sanity with the frugal recipes and sock it away strategies of her Southern roots. You can find her facing that daily dose of chaos at Hodgepodge. Tricia is a.k.a. Hodgepodgemom.

What is one moment from today you’d like to freeze for always?