We were a the park this weekend.
The weather has been absolutely perfect. In the 80s, sunny, a little bit of a breeze, low humidity.... perfect.
Sarah and I grabbed a table and broke out the cribbage board.
Ashley went over and introduced herself to the other kid playing there. She was a few years younger than Ashley, but that was okay, Ashley is pretty flexible that way.
We kept half an eye on them as we played cards. They settled in to a game where Ashley was the "mom" and the other kid was the college student, and they played out there version of empty nest syndrome, helicopter mom-ing, and abandonment anxiety there on the playground.
The other girls Mom was sitting on the other side of the playground by herself. We (the parental parties involved) gave a good natured wave to each other. Kinda that.... "i'm cool with our kids playing together, and I'll keep half an eye on your kid, if you keep half an eye on our kid" wave.
About half an hour in to our cribbage game, just as Ashley was saying "but if you go to college here in Madison, you'll have to come have supper with me once a week, okay?" the other mother caught my eye.
She was sitting on her bench, her eyes closed, her face tilted up towards the sun. She was listening to her daughter play, her soft smile would curl a little bit more when her daughter giggled. There was something about that moment.
God, I don't even know... Without knowing her, or anything about her at all, I felt connected to her. And I felt happy for her.
That sounds trite.
It was one of those moments that a writer obsesses with for weeks trying to put words to. That an artist tries for years to capture, and that a photographer, if she is lucky, sometimes manages to capture in that perfect frame.
I'm none of the above. But I did have our new digital camera along with us, and I tried to be subtle about grabbing a quick image. It doesn't really capture the moment (i'm so jealous of people who can take great photographs. god I wish I could. My Dad has been a good amateur photographer all his life, and my brother is an amazing photographer, but not me. That's not a pity play, just an honest assessment of my abilities. I know what i want to capture, but never seem to. I just take a TON of pictures, and sometimes i get lucky)
The picture doesn't do it justice. There was some larger truth in that moment. Something about happiness not being the day to day crap that we all have to trudge through to pay the bills, clothe our kids and out a little away for the christmas season.
Something about the notion that happiness is being able to find contentment in a warm sunny day when your daughter is playing with a new friend and the sun is falling just so across your cheeks. Existing in the moment, letting that contentment fill you up like a glass overflowing, and then taking it back with you into that drudgery. Letting that contentment sustain you until you can fill yourself up again.
Something like that...
No comments:
Post a Comment