Writes for Kicks

OK. Here goes… my first blog entry. 

I have to admit, I’m a little bit nervous.  Do I jump right in?  Should I put my toe in and check the temperature first?  I have to admit I’m not a “dive right in to the water” kind of gal.  It takes me forever to go in the neighbor’s pool when it is chilly.  But I will tell you, and my kids know this, if they are patient and do not splash me too much (well, o.k. at all) I will get in eventually and I will be a lot of fun.  Like the time when my 9 yr. old and his friends were standing on the diving board and trying to throw a basketball all the way through the hoop on the shallow end. And it is far. And they had all been trying for a long time.  I hopped up on the diving board and said, “Let me give it a try.”  And then I made it on my very first try. I’ll never ever impress a group of 9 yr. old boys like that ever again!

And isn’t that what life is all about as a mom? Those moments when your kids’ friends think you are the greatest mom ever? And you can see that your child actually agrees (though my 9 yr. old tries not to show it, his grin will give it away).  I live for those moments when I crack my kids up. When they think I am really cool. (With my son already nine, I know these moments are getting rarer by the second.) Those moments that just kind of happen by accident or out of pure luck (hence the basket I scored) or when you are trying really hard not to lose your patience, temper and mind. When my son bursts out in a spontaneous laugh….you know the one…that super cute giggle with the grin that stretches a mile from ear-to-ear. I am one happy mom.

The other day I was lying on the hammock with my 6 yr. old daughter. We usually do this once or twice a summer before the heat on our southern-exposure deck or the mosquitoes chase us away later in the season. She asked me to sing her the “ants go marching” song.  Apparently they had sung it at school that day. I sang it for her and she said, “Remember when you used to sing this every night to me at bedtime?” Do I remember? How could I ever forget?