Lovely little things, 6

This week’s lovely little things.

draping sheets
They had gotten their hands on a couple of flashlights. Such is the way when you don’t make most drawers off limits. The most mundane objects become toys while blocks and puzzles sit lonely.

So I draped an old sheet across two chairs, feeling a bit of vindication as I did so. When one finds a use for an old, torn sheet that has been kept in the bottom dresser drawer, one can, for a moment, stop feeling like a pack rat.

And I thought it’d be fun for them to make designs in the sheet with their lights. And that happened for a bit. But then the sheet became a curtain and the space between the chairs a stage. And the rocking cow became a unicorn and she became a princess. And I had to ask for her autograph.

And suddenly I was more than just ‘not a pack rat.’ I was the set designer for her new favorite game.

a pot of tea
My hands shook as I reached for the door. So very much out of my element. My element, as of late, does not often include taxi rides, walking more than three feet without a small person attached to me. My element has never involved a menu of tea. My Sunday morning element rarely involves hipster chicks and big comfy ottomans and an entire restaurant to myself.

It’s good to visit the space outside your element.

So I talked with the hipster chick and I ordered a pot of tea. My first ever pot of tea. Lavender and lemon and mint. And I sat. And I wrote. For almost three hours. And I watched people and eves dropped on conversations and burrowed into my own little world, oblivious to all the rest.

And it went by so fast. And I missed them. And I can’t wait to do it again.

oh early spring

We step outside and the air. Oh the air. It’s soft. It doesn’t bite. It doesn’t sting. And the sun. I feel it on my back in a way I haven’t felt for what feels like so so long. And I’m just enjoying that we can do this. Walk. Outside. Without purpose. Just because.

He likes stepping on the snow. Stomping on it. Trying to climb the mounds that to him must feel like mountains. He is braver now than when the snow first arrived. And I love that we can do this. Walk outside with just a light jacket or no jacket at all and play in the snow. Such a weird little moment to enjoy winter’s playground and spring’s warmth all at the same time.

We go inside and I take off his shoes. And his socks. And his pants. All wet and dirty. And he laughs.

Favorite words

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?”

~The Summer Day, Mary Oliver

What made your week lovely?