A few days ago Kendall said that he wanted to take the kids for a day so that Meliss and I could have a day with just the two of us (Bless his heart a million times over). For 12 straight hours we didn’t have to break up any fights, wipe snotty noses or deal with diaper explosions. I have to admit that after two weeks of being with the kids it was strange not having to say things like, “Don’t eat your boogers, you guys need to share, play nice, don’t knock over the blocks, what do you have in your mouth, is that poop (not referring to what was in the mouth), we don’t say that word….etc. etc. etc.” I did miss however: the constant hugs, little hands resting on my arms, having 3 kids on my lap watching cartoons, dancing to Disney music, hearing them laughing, and watching them creating. As much as I missed those things I have to admit: It was an amazing day and quite possibly, a perfect day.
We shopped until our wallets were empty and our feet were achy. Next we stopped and picked up our favorite pasta, a rotisserie chicken and chocolate covered cashews. Are these truly important details you may ask? Um YES! We drove out to the beach and ate it all. Poor chicken, he never had a chance after the day of shopping we had. We talked and laughed and contemplated life. As we chomped our way through the chicken I had the overwhelming feeling that this moment couldn’t even be improved when it was only a memory. You know how sometimes moments that are pretty great somehow become incredible five years down the road? All of the collected moments from today don’t need the embellishment that five years would give them.
As the sun was dropping lower we went for a stroll down the beach right where the water meets the sand. We had just placed our newly pedicured toes into the ocean when all of a sudden we saw this massive dark shape in the water. Jaws ruined any hope of us assuming: “Hey, maybe it is a nice dolphin with two cute little babies.” Thank you Stephen Spielberg. As panic shot through me (it really was only 10 feet away from us) a gianormous head popped out of the waves. A shark with eyes after my silver toes it was not. A manatee it was!!! It decided it was in love and slowly swam a few feet from the shore alongside us as we walked down the beach. He joined us for about 15 minutes of our walk. Who would blame him? We are excellent company.
When we first got there it was so cloudy in the horizon that it hid the sun. All you could see where long wispy stripes of pink and orange. We were disappointed. What good is a sunset if you can’t even see the sun? So we walked, talked and waited. It burned through one layer and all of a sudden dropped from beneath the clouds. There were still enough clouds out there that you could look directly at it without seeing orange circles when you looked away. It was beautiful to be able to watch it drop down into the water.
Melissa and I talked about what a great metaphor it was for life. Here we were walking around feeling bad for ourselves that there was so much junk in the sky that we wouldn’t be able to see anything. But then, low and behold it was BECAUSE of all the junk in the sky that we were ABLE to really see EVERYTHING. Hard things help us to see things from a different perspective. They can sharpen our senses, make us more grateful and help us to see the beautiful things in life. And yet we are usually upset when they cloud our vision. In those moments when we feel like we can’t see anything we feel robbed. Just before we give up hope or maybe just after, we are given an amazing sunset. The perfect ending to the perfect day.
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