Thankfully, last week’s snow is now a distant memory and after a period of being drowned in drifts and then swamped out with water, the backyard is finally nice enough for consistent play for the kids.
As I’m writing this, I had to stop and think, “was that last week that it snowed?” It felt like so much longer ago. Time has no meaning anymore.
But anyway, it was a nice day and the kids were actually in a generally cheerful, playful mood. Amelia asked if they could eat lunch together outside, which they did.
At one point, Amelia stepped away to look at a bird and within a second, Asta had jumped up on her chair and nimbly snatched half of Amelia’s sandwich. Guess she likes PB&J too.
Oh well. I made a make-up sandwich and lunch continued. Erin and I went crazy and ordered lunch from Chipotle. It had probably been weeks since we had something from anywhere other than our pantry, fridge or freezer, so that felt like a big treat.
That’s another marker along the way to completely new reality. When commodity chain Mexican food feels like an exotic delicacy.
In the afternoon while I was working, the kids were watching some bit on The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse that was causing absolutely epic levels of laughter. I mean, seriously, this was among the hardest I’ve seen either one of them laugh in ages. As best I can figure, it had something to do with Clarabelle the Cow saying hello to Minnie Mouse and then falling down.
First of all, slapstick is universal and someone falling down is almost always funny. I know this because I grew up watching Laurel and Hardy and because I have inspired plenty of falling-down-based laughter from others in my day. I am a bit clumsy and where it comes to falling comically, I am a natural.
Anyway, it was fun to see them having so much fun and I started to contemplate how precious that next level laugher is. I can probably think of a handful of times in my life where anything cracked me up that much, and remembering those moments still brings a smile. So I note this hoping that someday they’ll both remember the Clarabelle falling gag and smile about that, too.
Boy, that was a bit of a tangent. As an old friend used to like to say, “there’s nothing funnier than talking about comedy.”
After the laugh-in, the kids were back out in the backyard and blowing bubbles. Again, a pretty basic activity, but it kept them entertained for quite a while.
One of my favorite things about bubbles is that, being basically soap, it very mess-resistant. In fact, one could argue that Henry helped wash the love seat outside.
I also had to run a few errands and drop off a belated birthday gift for a friend of Amelia’s. It so happened that her friend’s mom and siblings were out in the yard, so we got to have a nice across-the-street conversation. As much as my appreciation for chain Mexican food has grown during quarantine, my appreciation for actual human conversation has REALLY heightened. It was nice to see our friend and chat for a few minutes.
It’s pretty safe to say all of us will have a greater appreciation of people, experiences and things when this is all over. I suppose that is a bright side, but it will sure seem brighter when we are looking back on this instead of forward. One day at a time.
