Dangit Uno
Dangit Uno…….My friend Kimberly W shared a sweet reminder with me from her past. We are, she is an actual gran and I am not, a grandmother's age. (Shush, it doesn't feel like it!) As we spoke about her grand parenting and some good solid advice to me about how to spend time with the generation that is two down from our own, we happened upon the topic of needing to spend time with Littlies WHILE they are still littlies. We bantered about how it is easy to get sucked up in the "TASK" of doing. Doing dishes, laundry, vacuuming, two course meals, sweeping, phone calls, etc. Geesh, we all do it. Up late at night , bone weary, scrubbing that counter and counting out lunch bags for tomorrow. And as we lay our fatigued self down with a mental list of tomorrows to dos, did we allow ourselves time with our peeps who we "do ALL THIS FOR?"
My dear friend shared that as she was expertly doing the "tasks" of the day, her wee one tugged at her sleeve requesting a game of Uno. The basic outline of Uno is each player has a set of cards, all different colors and numbers. So for i.e. a blue card with the number 2. If I have a 2 or a blue, I can lay it down. As soon as all cards are down the game is ended. Fearing that the tasks that needed attending wouldn't get done, my dear friend peeked over (as she sat higher) at her daughter's cards. The game, of course, went fast and she planned her move as she saw her daughter's last card was a blue. She had a blue and felt (I assume, writer's liberty) relieved it was almost over as her list was still waiting. (PLEASE we have all done it!! No judging.) Her eyes watered as she recalled her sweet baby, instead of playing the last card and being the Victor, quietly pulled another card from the pile in order to extend the time with her mama. My friend, years later recalls this as if it just happened.
We all have those stories. Our days that were once enamored by the very existence of these beautiful creatures that come into our lives are replaced with the need for ______, fill in the blank. Some of my sisters in the World have to spend their days searching for food, comfort, bill paying, and find little relief in the daily grind. I salute you, my friends. But many of us believe our "grind" or "tasks" are oh so important. Not so. Not so.
So when make that minute count. If dinner is late so what? If counters are dirty in place of time together…..forget about it. If deeds need done then do it together as a family and then spend time. Make that weariness at night be because you are cleaning up from pumpkin carving, family applesauce making, scrapbook making as a group. I am so much more happy to hear the roar of the dishwasher and see the dark encompass the kitchen as the house slumbers if I am doing it because we spent time as a family.
Go and do and play Uno.
My dear friend shared that as she was expertly doing the "tasks" of the day, her wee one tugged at her sleeve requesting a game of Uno. The basic outline of Uno is each player has a set of cards, all different colors and numbers. So for i.e. a blue card with the number 2. If I have a 2 or a blue, I can lay it down. As soon as all cards are down the game is ended. Fearing that the tasks that needed attending wouldn't get done, my dear friend peeked over (as she sat higher) at her daughter's cards. The game, of course, went fast and she planned her move as she saw her daughter's last card was a blue. She had a blue and felt (I assume, writer's liberty) relieved it was almost over as her list was still waiting. (PLEASE we have all done it!! No judging.) Her eyes watered as she recalled her sweet baby, instead of playing the last card and being the Victor, quietly pulled another card from the pile in order to extend the time with her mama. My friend, years later recalls this as if it just happened.
We all have those stories. Our days that were once enamored by the very existence of these beautiful creatures that come into our lives are replaced with the need for ______, fill in the blank. Some of my sisters in the World have to spend their days searching for food, comfort, bill paying, and find little relief in the daily grind. I salute you, my friends. But many of us believe our "grind" or "tasks" are oh so important. Not so. Not so.
So when make that minute count. If dinner is late so what? If counters are dirty in place of time together…..forget about it. If deeds need done then do it together as a family and then spend time. Make that weariness at night be because you are cleaning up from pumpkin carving, family applesauce making, scrapbook making as a group. I am so much more happy to hear the roar of the dishwasher and see the dark encompass the kitchen as the house slumbers if I am doing it because we spent time as a family.
Go and do and play Uno.
Comments