23 Jul Rain, rain, time to play.
Last week, we had the rain storm to top all rain storms. At least 20 minutes of downpour. Liddi and Jaeda were still sleeping when the rain started. Corban and I ran out to the porch in awe of the sheer power of the torrent. Neighbor girl Samantha ran over. “Come dance in the rain with me!” she begged. My inclination was not right now, maybe a different day, what about dinner prep, blah, blah, blah. Then I remembered the practice (dare I say discipline?) of saying yes. I have a multitude of opportunities to say no all.day.long. And sometimes I need to, for the benefit of the family as a whole. But because I have to say no so many times, I also must practice saying yes when I am able. So I started a list in my head.
1. James is the one who usually plays outside in the rain with the kids, because I’m usually nursing Liddi (like, every two hours usually).
2. Our dinner wasn’t going to take too long to prepare, and we had no other evening plans.
3. Liddi was ASLEEP, needing no care at the moment.
4. The kids needed a bath anyway, sooo…
5. I was due for a little free-spirited play.
So outside we went!
After playing for several minutes, it dawned on me that Jaeda would be so bummed to miss this great rain, sooo I ran upstairs to awake the princess. She groggily joined our crew and quickly forgot all about sleeping.
Eventually, Liddi woke up, but I wasn’t quite finished getting Samantha back for dumping a cupful of MUD on my face, so Neighbor Cari entertained her until she loudly declared her empty stomach. I will say I hadn’t quite thought far enough ahead to feeding a dry HUNGRY baby while in wet clothes. But we figured it out.
It felt so good to say yes. It wasn’t completely convenient. We did take baths at 4:30pm and ate dinner later that night, which is always a little stressful. (And I didn’t get a shower ’til much later after the mud was fully dried on.) I’ll have the chance to say no again, but this day was the perfect day for me to practice my playing-with-my-kids, being-spontaneous, getting-dirty-and-having-fun YES.
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