A Sunday Afternoon

*I just found this while looking through the documents on our computer for something different. I wrote it last May and thought I would share it since the spring weather is right around the corner (at least it has felt like it lately!)*

The sun is streaming through the windows making it seem warmer outside than what it really is. There is about a half hour until I need to start dinner and I can tell Eleanor is not going to make it. I grab a bowl of animal crackers and, taking her in my arms, carry both over to the couch. I settle her on my lap and she happily starts in on the menagerie in the bowl on her own lap.

As we bite the heads off elephants and legs from giraffes, I look outside. The breeze is causing the tree branches and leaves to sway gracefully. Although they cannot hear the Sufjan Stevens album playing in the kitchen, it is almost as if they are dancing to it. As “Tahquamenon Falls” fills my ears, I relax even more into the couch pillows around me listening to what sounds like wind chimes in the song.

Eleanor turns to offer me a bite of lion and then shoves it happily into her mouth before I can accept or refuse. Just a bit louder than the beginning notes of “Holland” is the pounding coming from outside. I look out one of the windows to the west and I can see Tim each time he stands to move to a new position. He is nailing landscape timbers to the ground for the perimeter of our garden with his “helper” in the form of a preschooler, Noah.

All is right. I forget the present financial woes of the country. In this moment my mind is not littered with thoughts of unemployment, health care, broken down vehicles or other downers. In this moment I am thankful to God for what I do have. In this moment, I am cherishing my blessings.

I know that the next song will bring forth with it reminders of all that is realistic but right now I just want this: calm. I want to snuggle my daughter and kiss her delightful cheeks. I want to savor the mental snapshot of a father and son in their work gloves, one pair black and gray and the other blue and orange with Diego the Animal Rescuer on them, laboring over a project together. It is not just any project but one that was designed and is being carried out together as a family, trying to involved the kids whenever possible.

Eleanor has finished the last of her zoo and is now trying to put the bowl on her head. She looks at me and laughs hysterically because she knows she is. Inside I just about burst with all that surrounds me – sunshine outside, laughter inside, childlike playfulness and labors of love. More important than all that, what can cause all that, is one more thing.

There is peace in my heart.