I'm so rich...
Andrea Burlingame
This may seem sappy, but I have to tell you all how much I love my kids and how blessed I feel. Right now my heart is swollen with gratitude and love.
We just got back from the beach, where my stepdaughter and her friend played in the ocean. I had wanted to take a walk, since the baby was sleeping on my back (I love my Ergo Baby Carrier, by the way!), but I could see that 4yo ds was feeling left out when her big sister wanted only to play with her friend, so I instead invited my two girls to play in the dry sand on the dunes with me. We played hide and seek in the dune grass and made a pyramid of small sand ball and just hung out. The girls were precious. They had on windbreakers on top of only a shirt and some undies and I had so much fun watching them run around with big smiles on their faces and seeing them make discoveries like how the beach grass is different at the end of summer than it was when we first moved here in March. (It's got tall yellow seed stalks now!)
We had a slight scare when a big black animal emerged from the grass at the top of the dune. My husband recently told us how he and our dog came across a black bear in the dunes, and there we were, only a few feet away from what very well could be the same bear! We hardly had a chance to get up from our sand ball pyramid to get away when we saw that instead of a bear, we were looking at a VERY pudgy black lab! She waddled over to us with a big doggie grin on her face waiting for some lovin'. Never did see any human companions, just her. Anyway, the girls and I got a good laugh at the mistaken identity!
We came home and got cleaned up and right now the girls are watching a movie with a big platter of yummies I prepared for them. They helped me spread out a big sheet so the 1 yo could join them on the floor for snacks. When he dumped a bowl of dry cereal, the girls looked up at me in dismay (I think they were expecting me to upset--ugh...my fault), until I laughed and said, "It's a good thing we put a sheet down!" Then they laughed too and were so kind to him, instead of yelling, "NO!" at them. They all started giggling and eating it off the sheet, enjoying the "wrongness" of it. I keep looking over at them and thinking how wonderful they are, and how fast this time passes. It seems like only yesterday when my 15 yo son was a little guy on the floor watching Wizard of Oz, his favorite movie back then, surrounded by legos and dinosaurs. Now he's 6 ft tall and still very into movies, but I don't get to watch him play and watch movies--he live in Alaska, where he and his dad unschool together (they jumped on the idea when I suggested it!) So, anyway, I'm feeling grateful to see my little ones happy a few feet away from me. And I'm grateful to get up and help with the occasional squabble, full of compassion in my heart.
What a difference a simple change of attitude can make! They are no different. I am. And I'm so glad.
~Andrea
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
We just got back from the beach, where my stepdaughter and her friend played in the ocean. I had wanted to take a walk, since the baby was sleeping on my back (I love my Ergo Baby Carrier, by the way!), but I could see that 4yo ds was feeling left out when her big sister wanted only to play with her friend, so I instead invited my two girls to play in the dry sand on the dunes with me. We played hide and seek in the dune grass and made a pyramid of small sand ball and just hung out. The girls were precious. They had on windbreakers on top of only a shirt and some undies and I had so much fun watching them run around with big smiles on their faces and seeing them make discoveries like how the beach grass is different at the end of summer than it was when we first moved here in March. (It's got tall yellow seed stalks now!)
We had a slight scare when a big black animal emerged from the grass at the top of the dune. My husband recently told us how he and our dog came across a black bear in the dunes, and there we were, only a few feet away from what very well could be the same bear! We hardly had a chance to get up from our sand ball pyramid to get away when we saw that instead of a bear, we were looking at a VERY pudgy black lab! She waddled over to us with a big doggie grin on her face waiting for some lovin'. Never did see any human companions, just her. Anyway, the girls and I got a good laugh at the mistaken identity!
We came home and got cleaned up and right now the girls are watching a movie with a big platter of yummies I prepared for them. They helped me spread out a big sheet so the 1 yo could join them on the floor for snacks. When he dumped a bowl of dry cereal, the girls looked up at me in dismay (I think they were expecting me to upset--ugh...my fault), until I laughed and said, "It's a good thing we put a sheet down!" Then they laughed too and were so kind to him, instead of yelling, "NO!" at them. They all started giggling and eating it off the sheet, enjoying the "wrongness" of it. I keep looking over at them and thinking how wonderful they are, and how fast this time passes. It seems like only yesterday when my 15 yo son was a little guy on the floor watching Wizard of Oz, his favorite movie back then, surrounded by legos and dinosaurs. Now he's 6 ft tall and still very into movies, but I don't get to watch him play and watch movies--he live in Alaska, where he and his dad unschool together (they jumped on the idea when I suggested it!) So, anyway, I'm feeling grateful to see my little ones happy a few feet away from me. And I'm grateful to get up and help with the occasional squabble, full of compassion in my heart.
What a difference a simple change of attitude can make! They are no different. I am. And I'm so glad.
~Andrea
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Game-Enthusiast
Andrea,
Glad your feeling more relaxed. We were just talking about this on one list
(can't remember which one) but if you live each day like it's your last day
with your family, it can make all the difference. It puts things back into
perspective if you can stop and look at it that way.
Take care,
Angela
game-enthusiast@...
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Glad your feeling more relaxed. We were just talking about this on one list
(can't remember which one) but if you live each day like it's your last day
with your family, it can make all the difference. It puts things back into
perspective if you can stop and look at it that way.
Take care,
Angela
game-enthusiast@...
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Faith Pickell
Yeahhhhhh! I hope more of your days can be like this.
Faith
Faith
On Wednesday, August 25, 2004, at 09:11 PM, Andrea Burlingame wrote:
> This may seem sappy, but I have to tell you all how much I love my
> kids and how blessed I feel. Right now my heart is swollen with
> gratitude and love.
>
> We just got back from the beach, where my stepdaughter and her friend
> played in the ocean. I had wanted to take a walk, since the baby was
> sleeping on my back (I love my Ergo Baby Carrier, by the way!), but I
> could see that 4yo ds was feeling left out when her big sister wanted
> only to play with her friend, so I instead invited my two girls to
> play in the dry sand on the dunes with me. We played hide and seek in
> the dune grass and made a pyramid of small sand ball and just hung
> out. The girls were precious. They had on windbreakers on top of
> only a shirt and some undies and I had so much fun watching them run
> around with big smiles on their faces and seeing them make discoveries
> like how the beach grass is different at the end of summer than it was
> when we first moved here in March. (It's got tall yellow seed stalks
> now!)
>
> We had a slight scare when a big black animal emerged from the grass
> at the top of the dune. My husband recently told us how he and our
> dog came across a black bear in the dunes, and there we were, only a
> few feet away from what very well could be the same bear! We hardly
> had a chance to get up from our sand ball pyramid to get away when we
> saw that instead of a bear, we were looking at a VERY pudgy black lab!
> She waddled over to us with a big doggie grin on her face waiting for
> some lovin'. Never did see any human companions, just her. Anyway,
> the girls and I got a good laugh at the mistaken identity!
>
> We came home and got cleaned up and right now the girls are watching a
> movie with a big platter of yummies I prepared for them. They helped
> me spread out a big sheet so the 1 yo could join them on the floor for
> snacks. When he dumped a bowl of dry cereal, the girls looked up at
> me in dismay (I think they were expecting me to upset--ugh...my
> fault), until I laughed and said, "It's a good thing we put a sheet
> down!" Then they laughed too and were so kind to him, instead of
> yelling, "NO!" at them. They all started giggling and eating it off
> the sheet, enjoying the "wrongness" of it. I keep looking over at
> them and thinking how wonderful they are, and how fast this time
> passes. It seems like only yesterday when my 15 yo son was a little
> guy on the floor watching Wizard of Oz, his favorite movie back then,
> surrounded by legos and dinosaurs. Now he's 6 ft tall and still very
> into movies, but I don't get to watch him play and watch movies--he
> live in Alaska, where he and his dad unschool together (they jumped on
> the idea when I suggested it!) So, anyway, I'm feeling grateful to
> see my little ones happy a few feet away from me. And I'm grateful to
> get up and help with the occasional squabble, full of compassion in my
> heart.
>
> What a difference a simple change of attitude can make! They are no
> different. I am. And I'm so glad.
>
> ~Andrea
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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