Days Nineteen and Twenty: Family Time

On Friday, I had every intention of getting to the shipping store to send away a few packages I'd wrapped up. My son's afternoon nap, however, was almost four hours instead of his usual 60 minutes. By the time he'd woken up, I was still in my pajamas and it was already full dark. I didn't have much time to get us all put together and out the door!

I hurried up to the shower, leaving my son in the care of Dora the Explorer. Getting out, I realized I'd forgotten to get a towel and all I had within reach of the tub was a dinky hand towel. The bath mat was gone, too, sent to the laundry room after my son's morning bath where he'd gotten out of the tub and promptly peed on the floor. I'm gingerly skating across the linoleum floor, leaving a trail of bath water, rounding the corner to the cold hallway and there, waiting for me, is my son. He's managed to climb up the stairs with a ball and he uses all of his newfound language skills to say he wants to play catch.

"Okay, hold on! Mama needs to get a towel and some clothes."

Graeme follows me into my closet where he drags the first shirt of mine he sees off a shelf, dragging it after me as an offering.

I quickly wrap a towel around my hair and throw some clothes on as he follows me back and forth with that ball clutched hopefully to his chest. I'm running out of time before the shipping center closes.

"Hey!", I say with artificial brightness, "do you want to get on your tricycle and go mail some packages with Mommy? We can go visit Jay, the man who works there. You like Jay!"

Graeme considers this and then solemnly shakes his head.

"No, no, no. Baby play catch. Mama catch ball, too!"

"How about we play catch later? We can hurry out to ship our mail before it closes and then we can come back here and play catch! Doesn't that sound fun?"

Graeme stood silently, his eyes swimming, his lower lip pouting out a little bit.

"Catch? Baby ball?"

I'm so frustrated! One of the packages was my day's gift. Here I'm standing half-dressed with a towel-turban and I don't stand a chance of getting to the store without a lot of help from my toddler. He's waiting for my response, hopefully, patiently, and I realize that I'm missing the point of the gifts if I don't take the time to play with my son. I finally see him there, see the effort he took to get up the stairs with that ball, see the good-natured way he waited through my shower and even tried to help me get dressed. What on earth could possibly be more important than spending that time with him tonight?

I re-secured my towel over my wet hair and sat right down in the hallway outside the bathroom.

"Okay, Graeme, let's play catch."

I never did ship out those packages and I even missed my dinner date later in the evening. I did, however, manage to give a gift for the day.

~~

On Day Twenty, I did finally mail out that package I'd planned. In it, wrapped stoutly in brown paper, was a copy of Cami's book and another book about deer that had caught my eye at the bookstore a week ago as being perfect for a friend of mine living in Maryland.

I didn't worry about getting other gives done, choosing instead to enjoy a day outside in the forest with my husband and son, taking photos to share with our family online. We had dinner together and even found time to watch a movie and an episode of Top Chef. It was really lovely focusing on family time and allowing myself to be wholly present, not anxiously thinking about what I should be working on or pursuing my more solitary hobbies.

It was delightful, all of it, and a good reminder that my gifts don't always have to be gift-wrapped.

"Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate."
~Chuang Tsu as quoted in A Grateful Heart: Daily Blessings for the Evening Meal from Buddha to the Beatles edited by M.J. Ryan