For a while now, longer than I care to admit, I have been feeling like I need to write again. I am not sure what I am supposed to write about, or how often, or where. I have just had little stirrings, whisperings to my mind and heart, that I need to document this time of my life. It started months ago. Months. So kids, if and when you someday read this, do not put off promptings for months. So here we are. I will not even attempt to catch up on all that has happened over the last year. Jace is now 9, Braxton is 7, Ashlyn is 5 and Brielle is 2. Tim and I are in our early 30's. It is weird to even type that. You never think it will happen as a kid, but time is passing in the blink of an eye. I will start out slow. Just a story I want to remember that happened earlier today. We have 9am church and there is always a mad rush in the morning, usually involving some raised voices and tears, to get ready and out the door. Today was no different. We live about a half a mile from our church building but always drive because we cross a semi-busy road, and we are always late. Today before we even left, Braxton asked me to walk home from church with him. I said "sure bud, let's just hurry and get in the car." He persisted and I used it as a wonderful reverence tool during sacrament meeting (as in, you call your sister a name one more time and I will NOT walk home from church with you). After sacrament meeting was over, he made plans to meet me outside my primary classroom so we could walk home. I said "great!", but secretly hoped he would forget and/or be too tired to walk home since I was wearing 4 inch wedge heals and was about to spend the next two hours wrangling/teaching lots of four year olds in primary.
As soon as I opened my classroom door though, there was Braxton, ready to start our walk home! We walked the rest of the family out to the car, and I asked if anyone else would like to join us but got no takers. So as Tim and the rest of the kids drove off in the car, Braxton and I started our walk.
He slipped his little hand in mine and as we walked, we talked. We talked about the life cycle of caterpillars and tadpoles. How as they grow they change into completely different animals. We talked about how weird it would be if humans laid eggs instead of having babies in our tummies. (We just skimmed the surface of that topic, thankfully). We laughed together as we imagined what it would have been like if he hatched out of an egg. We talked about where I grew up. I told him how I used to live next to Alligator Lake and what Florida was like. We discussed the various ways we could hunt alligators. I told him a story about when I was in high school and came home to get a snack before track practice to find a snake on our living room floor. We walked slowly, but before I knew it, we were rounding the corner to our house. Still holding hands. I squeezed his little hand and before we went in, he looked at me and said "lets walk home together every week mom" I think I will take him up on that.
