(remembered from May 2008)

It was a lazy Spring day, or rather it should have been. I was rushing around trying to get my grocery shopping done. I remember pushing my cart frantically around Walmart. See, I am under the impression that the longer I am in Walmart (or Target or Costco… just depends on the day of the week), the more money I spend. Therefore if I rush around at breakneck pace, I spend much less - of course that doesn’t bode well for other shoppers, but that’s my mindset. Anyways, here I am with milk, bread, juice, maybe some meat, and who knows what else in tow, waiting for my turn at the register. All the while I am thinking of the 100 things I need to do when I get home. It isn’t often that I get to go to the grocery store by myself, and while I love being able to wander around by myself, I know I need to get home… that to-do list isn’t going to get done by itself. So, I finally get up to the register, put my items on the belt, pay, and go out to pack up my car. Driving home, I turn up the music and sing… loudly. There is no one else in the car to tell me to change the station. No one telling me to be quiet. I sing “Living on a Prayer” just as I imagine Bon Jovi would… if he was a 34 year old housewife that is.

As I pull up to my driveway I see Addi running around the yard. He stops and holds a stick up into the air. He is so still, but his face is beaming. I get out and shut my car door quietly, not wanting to ruin the moment. He stands still for a moment longer, and then starts to spin. His little arms held out and his laughter! It’s loud, and perfect… yes, that is the word that comes to me… Perfect. I feel tears coming to my eyes. Addi has ADHD, and can be a handful. I don’t tell him enough how much I love him. I don’t tell him enough that my world would be less colorful if he wasn’t here.

I lean back on my car and watch for a few more minutes, wanting to run with him, to be free for just a few minutes of the worries of being a mom. And then he sees me and waves.

“Hi mom! Whatcha’ doin’?”

“I just got home. What are YOU doing?” I ask him, hoping he can hear the smile in my voice and the love I have for him in my tone.

“I’m trying to catch a bird, mom! Don’t you see my stick?”

He said it like it should be completely obvious to me, and I had to laugh. Sometimes, the most mundane things, the simplest joys, are the most profound. And how fitting that it takes a child to point that out to us sometimes.

He waved at me once more and ran off… trying to catch a bird.