Adventure Awaits Everyone Who Dares

Random thoughts are wandering through my mind this morning. Since I cannot think of any one topic to sit down and hone in on, I shall ramble. Sometimes my rambling takes me exactly where I need to go ...

First off, I sat still and read 53 pages of a book yesterday. It felt a little bit wonderful. I haven't had the attention span to read a book in so very long. This fact frightens me just a little bit. But leafing through the book "I Feel Bad About My Neck" by Nora Ephron the other night, intrigued me. I found yet another quote (among many) yesterday that made me laugh out loud - "...the amount of maintenance involving hair is genuinely overwhelming. Sometimes I think that not having to worry about your hair any more is the secret upside of death". And she goes on ...

Yes!! It is not just me and my sister that have this unhealthy relationship with our hair! I related to most everything that she wrote on 'maintenance'. I think that is the greatest gift of the internet - the ability to find people out there that are going through similar journeys. There is nothing that makes the world a little smaller than the "Me too!" moments when someone puts words to the thoughts in your head. I have many "Nora Ephron Aging Epiphanies" but I don't have her flare for making the aging process sound so humorous.

I read while my one-year-olds napped yesterday morning. Immediately upon their waking, we packed ourselves up and headed out on an 'adventure'. Going anywhere with three children under the age of three is an adventure. We go on adventures every time we take a step outside of our norm here.

My little two and a half year old must walk, while her one-year-old partners in daycare get to ride in the twin stroller. Six months ago, she was the one who got to ride in the stroller. So there has been much dramatic flair as we have attempted to initiate her into the 'helping' role of pushing the stroller along with me. I do believe that it helped that her other (part-time) 2 1/2 year old daycare friend had to push along with her when we went walking earlier this week. It also helped that there was a McDonald's lunch in it for her if she could walk that far.

Yesterday was a good day for a walk. We headed out towards the library. We were a few blocks away when I asked my 2 1/2 year old if she wanted to keep walking. She did. We went to the library. We found out that the library is holding a Dance Party this morning and Toddler Story Time on Tuesdays. We borrowed some books. We found a computer at the library with educational games, with a touch screen that is very child-friendly. We will be back!

Then ... I asked the million dollar question. "Do you want to go to McDonald's for lunch?" She did. And we did. And we did very well, if I do say so myself. We succeeded on so many levels I was simply happy all over.

Then came the walk home. This is when I expected the drama of walking too far to rear its ugly head. It didn't happen! We left McDonald's at 12:30. We got home at 1:06. We did not break the sound barrier coming home. In fact I do believe that we could have raced a spider home and the spider would have won. But we did it! Without complaint, without incident and even without a lost boot or mitt.

I felt like the world of opportunity opened up on our doorstep yesterday. We have endured a very long winter within the confines of my home and yard. Out-of-yard excursions depend highly upon my pre-school children's willingness and ability to walk. I was afraid that our adventures would be few and far between with my young crowd. But I have been proven wrong. And our friendly, neighborhood library is supplying us with a worthy destination.

Ahhh ... summertime is coming. The birds are singing, the wind is blowing (and drying up all of the puddles and mud), the sun is trying to shine and we are taking it all in.

It feels good to be back. No matter how long it stays, winter always seems to last one month too long. It was a very long month. We were ready for you, spring!

Many more adventures await us. The moment we dare walk outside of our door ...