Today

Today I stayed home from work.  My daughter had a fall on the ice at school and she needed some TLC.  

Today I met my little man outside in the driveway when he came home from school.  I watched him jump down from the bus and run on the sidewalk as fast as his legs would carry him in an effort to beat the bus down the road.  He didn't win the race, but he smiled the whole entire way.  

Today I baked banana bread.  I cleaned up the kitchen, and I used up the old brown bananas for a tasty treat.  It made me feel like my mom.  It was like stepping into the picture I remember in my head of her and walking in her shoes.  It felt good.  

Today I played Hot Wheels with my boy.  I picked my favorite car out of his box and I entered the imaginary world that he loves to visit on the kitchen counter.  We drove our cars through the jungle, around an eagles nest and across an old wooden bridge.  We raced and we crashed and we smiled more than anything else.  We only played for a half an hour or so, but it felt like more than an hour had passed when we cleaned up.  It was good fun.  

Today I enlisted the help of all three hooligans to finish a set of gifts for the new women on my visiting teaching route.  We all sat around the table and put everything together so they would be ready for delivery.  Having them share in my service was a good choice for all of us.  

Today I set my studies aside and played cowboys and outlaws with the whole family.  We turned all of the lights off in the house and crept around until someone got scared enough to scream.  We shot our pistols and we laughed out loud until someone said, "Let's do it again!"  It's the best family night we've shared in a really long time and I know that for certain because the hooligans told me so.  

Today I felt like a mom.  Today I was present in my own home.  Today I felt productive, and today I felt like I made a difference.  Today was oh so good.  I'm looking forward to many more days just like this one.  This is exactly what I've been waiting for for such a long time.