New Post Up At GNMParents

They haven't told me to hit the road quite yet...so here's this week's post.

Parental Empathy: Can You Mix Tough With Tender?

Easter Times Three

It's the Little Things

Every afternoon this week we have been taking Jude to the park. After being stuck indoors all winter it seems that the three of us can't get enough of "ousside". Yesterday was no exception.

While the two of them roamed the park, climbing monkey bars and slides (yes, we climb slides) and running on wooden bridges, I parked myself on the bench and flipped through a magazine. Normally, I'm also following the trail of activity through the playground, but not yesterday.

At first I felt that twinge of guilt. You know the one I'm talking about. The one that says, "I reeeally shouldn't be doing something as frivolous as sitting and reading a magazine when I could be following Ben and Jude, being a part of all the action."

That's when I looked up.

There, off in the distance, they were both walking toward the baseball field to watch the afternoon practice that was going on. Side by side, big and little, I watched them walk away. Stopping here and there to examine something on the ground together or point up at something in a tree, it was as if I were watching a scene from a very poignant movie.

Only it was MY movie.

Since I didn't have my camera with me I tried to burn the image into my brain so that when I'm old, on a rainy day like today, I can sit and stare out the window and watch them over and over again in my memory.

The guilt went away as I went back to reading my magazine, glancing up periodically to drink in the sight of them and be reminded that it really is the little things in life that mean so much.

Will MySpace Bring World Peace?

The nice folks over at GNM Parents have asked me to contribute to their online collaborative site! What fun! It appears they are not the least big aghast at my often wacky views and ideas.

My first post went up over the weekend. Go check it out.

Will MySpace Bring World Peace?