Day 12: Taking the time

Last night, The Princess cut out pieces of paper in the shape of tickets with one side that read “Polar Express”. She made hot cocoa and a big bowl of popcorn. She instructed me and her sister to “Wear your slippers. Meet in the car.” In the car, we drank our lukewarm cocoa, ate some popcorn and sat in the garage chatting and giggling until The Princess said, “Okay, now let’s go back in the house and watch the movie.” {Apparently, when she saw this described as Pinterest, it was as an activity to do closer to Christmas, usually initiated by a parent and involved driving around to see Christmas lights}

She set up The Polar Express on the DVD player and the three of us curled up together on the couch to watch the movie.

The whole thing – from the tickets to her putting on the movie was a lovely and delightful surprise out of nowhere that touched my heart and made me think so many times, “I am so unbelievably lucky.”

(We’ll disregard the part where she turned off all the lights and I nearly fell asleep halfway through the movie. It was a long weekend. I was tired.)

I love this about her.

I love this kind of thing in general.

Gestures are an amazing thing. It cost her nothing but time, and the three of us had a good night chilling out on the couch together, eating popcorn and telling the dog to not bite us. I am a fan of gestures, and like to think I am a somewhat thoughtful person, and you know what? It had never occurred to me. Sure, occasionally, I make a half-hearted attempt to wrangle the girls to watch a movie. Sometimes I’m even 50% successful, getting the attention of one child but not both.

Somehow The Princess made it fun and inviting and it was a good time and after the weekend we had, it was a breath of fresh air to just be, to laugh and to drink cocoa while watching a movie.

We’d spent the day together yesterday. With an unseasonably warm fall day, we took the dog for a walk (I had the added pleasure of carrying 50 pounds of Pumpkin on my back because her legs were too tired and or she couldn’t want to didn’t want to keep up – whatever, more exercise for me!). We ate leftover ropa vieja for lunch. We went to the hospital and spent the first 30 minutes in the cafeteria with my aunt because my grandfather was in physical therapy (“He flashes everyone when he does PT,” my aunt said. “No one wants to see his junk. Let’s go wait in the cafeteria.”). Thirty minutes in the cafeteria with my aunt and the girls, the girls happily snacking on hospital junk food (because why should food in a hospital be good for you?) until we could visit my grandpa. We then spent a bit of time visiting with my grandfather (he’s quite tired, the strength and sensation in his left side has quite a ways to go for recovery but his mental facilities are pretty much on point for him – a relief, for sure). Then to the park to further take advantage of the weather.

So, for The Princess to plan this movie event was quite possibly the perfect end to this day. This day of hanging out, being together, being a family – and we ended on a good note.

I’m not surprised she got the idea from Pinterest –  that seems to be where she gets all of her ideas lately, including the Christmas gifts she plans on making this year and can I please buy x, y and z and let her do chores to make extra money and “HEY MOM GUESS WHAT I SAW ON PINTEREST?”), and I love that she tweaked it to make it work somehow for our family. But I love that she took the time.

I said yesterday, I feel like I’m supposed to be learning something from all of this stuff lately. I don’t know what it is, exactly. What I do know that in the face of my grandfather’s medical emergency, I was able to somehow manage to add some peace to my weekend in the form of time with people I adore and surely that’s something.

 

About sarah

Sarah is a book nerd, a music lover, an endorphin junkie, a coffee addict. Oh, and a goof ball. She writes, she tweets, and she sings off key.

Speak Your Mind

*