New Favorite

For the last few days, I have been away from home.  I got to go visit Princess and her husband for a couple days, and spend some quality time with Button.

He has to be just about the happiest baby ever.  He doesn't have a personality that ensures he laughs alot, but he is rarely EVER unhappy.  He is a curious and inquisitive, tough and determined little explorer.

While I was visiting, we took him to a playground. I have dreamed for years of getting to play with my grandchildren on a playground, and it was a spectacular beginning to the fulfillment of that dream.  In contrast to the long, vicious, and bitterly cold winter we were experiencing a couple weeks ago, that day was such a beautiful one.  Gloriously warm and sunny, and the only hint of snow were the pink cherry blossom petals tumbling in the breeze turning the playground into a wonderland for my little grandson.

He ran along, at almost the same pace as the gently tumbling petals on the ground, chasing them as Mother Nature teased them away from his little fingers.  He bravely climbed to the top of the playset, stopping at each step to look behind and make sure I was still with him.  He chased a soccer ball some bigger children were kicking back and forth, and looked up at me, so startled, when it rolled by just a little closer than he was expecting.  He wandered through the playground, exploring this toy, studying that leaf, touching the dirt here, or the fallen petals there.  But one of my favorite moments was when, after getting knocked down, he looked just about to cry, then looked up at me and raised his arms, somehow knowing that if I would pick him up, he would be just fine.

While we walked around the playground together, doing more exploring than playing, he and I bonded in a way we have not been able to before.  I am no longer a recurring visitor in his life, who comes to visit, plays with him or feeds him, and then leaves.  I became someone he can share adventures with, who he can trust to help him up when he gets knocked down, who he may forget for moments here and there, but then will always look back, just to be sure I'm still behind him, still urging him on to follow his heart, to make life an adventure.  I always will be, little Button.  For you, and for all your siblings and cousins to come.  It will be my everyday joy.