Be Here

Don’t rush.  Don’t move on.  Don't think about needing to wipe his sticky fingers.  Don't look away.  Don't worry about pulling weeds, or watering wilting flowers.  Don’t get up.  Don't anticipate bedtime.  Don't start cleaning up the explosion of balls and trucks and buckets.  Don't hurry the day.  Don’t forget.
Just be here, right now, and let this, this pleasure of being a parent, sink into my soul the way the apple juice popsicle drips right down his tummy.

Right here, I remind myself, standing perfectly still, neither looking backward or forward, but still with the simple belief that we will not always remember the last five minutes, that we will get through the next five minutes, and that right now is it.

 JEB

Years Ago

He put love in my heart.
And then he put a ring on my finger.

 JEB

Sieve

She liberates me from stress over minutia, helps me filter out what's really important.  Outside the perimeter of normal, away from frenetic schedules and competitive agendas, she has encouraged me to create bigger margins for happy to happen.  She's taught me to sort wheat from chaff, to sift tedious and irrelevant from necessary and true.  Her smile reminds me to grab on to the joy and let the rest just slide right through my fingers. 

JEB

Prune

Summer is for all-afternoon parties in the pool.

JEB

Plum

Plum lucky,
Plum loved.

 JEB

Kisses

With them, frogs turn into princes, sleeping spells are broken, wedding vows are sealed, and parents say goodnight...

JEB

Curriculum

I see him learning, turning each new subject matter into something that deserves careful examination.
Everywhere we go becomes his classroom, his internal syllabus determining such formative experiences.
I watch him study the world around us and I feel like I've been skipping school for years.
JEB