Elias "helps" me water the garden beds. He holds the hose without his canes and waves it around in the air, often making me leap to the side to avoid the spray.
I feel my patience waning. I've just transplanted Golden Globe from the side of the house to the front and I want to water the soon-to-be dormant plants before I forget. Before fall turns to winter and I can only hope their green shoots emerge in the spring.
"Elias can I please have the hose there's something I have to water."
"There's something I have to water," Elias says with a defiant edge. As he pulls the hose away from me the shower turns to a small spray.
"Uh oh, a kink."
Elias tips his head back and laughs, "A kink! A kink!" He drops the hose on the ground to look for the twisted part. "Kink alert! Kink alert!" He laughs with his whole body, holding onto our lilac tree for balance.
Nick walks around the corner. "If we get lots of kinks it makes us..."
"Kinky," Elias finishes Nick's sentence, without even a pause, correctly changing a known noun to an adjective, but totally unaware of the new meaning that causes his parents to smile.
"Nana..Nana...Nana!"
"Yes, Elias?"
"I'm so happy you're here!!!"
Elias repeats this conversation daily with both Nana and Papa. Sometimes he says, "I'm so happy you're at our house!" Or "I'm so happy you get to eat breakfast with us!" And every time he says these words, its as if he's a kid who just learned he's going to Disney Land--that is, if he was a kid who knew about Mickey and cared. He doesn't.
But he does care about his grandparents and company and every day he acts as if they just arrived with an armful of presents, turning to them at dinner as they lift their forks to their mouths to say, "I'm so happy you're here!"
"I'm so happy you're happy to have us here AND I'm happy to be here," my Dad responds.
"That's a whole lot of happy," Nick says from his seat at the table.
"Yia, Yia," Olive says as she chases another toddler who carries Elias's cane across the room. She points at the boy, with her whole arm outstretched, and makes frustrated noises as she follows him around the corner.
The boy's Dad and I pursue. We've just met.
Olive grabs the cane out of the boy's hand and holds it close to her body. "Yia!" She stares at the boy younger but bigger than her. "Yia!"
Elias!
The father smiles at me, "That's cool."
I smile back, proud of my little girl, not yet two, already sticking up for her big brother.
Nick and I walk around downtown Anchorage, with no set plans, and no designated time to return home since my parents will sleep on a futon in the family room just outside our kids' bedroom doors.
We sit on the deck of the Snow Goose, side by side, drinking a beer, talking, like we would at home in the yard after the kids go to bed, only now we watch people eat as the sun sets over Sleeping Lady.
"What'd you do for your date?" Nick says, "Oh, we just changed the view."
I laugh and reach for his hand, thinking: "I love my life."
Sometimes we need to gather small moments, like seashells, hold them up to the light to see the beauty and symmetry in the details, lift them to our ear to hear the deep hum of the ocean's roar, collect them like treasures to preserve a life.
For in the end, this is what matters...
So beautiful, so poignant in its simplicity and the small treasures held within. You brought tears to my eyes today...the good kind.
Posted by: Niksmom | 09/07/2011 at 06:56 AM
beautiful. just beautiful.it is the collection of these small moments that make up our lives and it is easy to lose sight of them in the busy-ness of every day. loved it. will try to hold onto these gems more. thanks for the reminder.
Posted by: Kate | 09/07/2011 at 07:01 AM
Thank you for this collection. Sometimes we all forget how precious each such moment is, what a privilege it is to have moments.
Posted by: danielle in zurich | 09/07/2011 at 07:14 AM
Oh, I love these kinds of posts.. you're masterful at capturing the small, beautiful moments that truly do make life wonderful. I'll picture little Olive, standing up for Elias and the dad turning to you and saying, "That's cool" for days. It is SO cool.. and that's your little girl, feisty and strong and yet loving and caring at the same time. It also shows how even though Elias and her may fight, they are bonded in only the way siblings know.. as an only child, it always makes a bit jealous, but it also makes me happy, so happy for you and your family. I've followed your blog since way before Olive came along, and when I'm feeling hopeless about ever having my own children, I remember her and smile. You waited a long time for your family, and now, here it is. Thank you for sharing.
Posted by: Emily | 09/07/2011 at 02:44 PM
"Sometimes we need to gather small moments, like seashells, hold them up to the light to see the beauty and symmetry in the details, lift them to our ear to hear the deep hum of the ocean's roar, collect them like treasures to preserve a life.
For in the end, this is what matters..."
YES! So well written!
Posted by: Jill | 09/07/2011 at 06:29 PM
You all give me the strength and courage to keep writing, even on days when the magical moments are harder to find. Thanks for appreciating what I have to say!
Posted by: Christy | 09/12/2011 at 04:12 PM