Muddy Spring

I've decided that life is about moments (I know, I know--THAT big discovery was made a long time ago by someone else). Really, I think it is about those tiny moments. My Mom calls them whisper diamonds like hoar frost that melts as soon as the sun warms the earth enough or the droplet of water in the center of a lupine leaf that can be blown away by the wind (if it's clever enough) or evaporate as things dry out. I've always thought of them in terms of hours, not MOMENTS. I had one though just the other day. I'm going to tell you the story. Are you ready? (On the edge of your chair I'm sure--or ball if you're like me)

It all started with the first rhubarb harvest of the year. It had to be done that day--there was no more putting it off. That day was a busy day, dishes and laundry to do--not to mention we had a date of sorts to go for a walk with friends. I dutifully pulled it and then set to work cutting off the leaves (poisonous you know--which is a shame they are such nice big leaves) and the yucky part at the bottom. Pretty soon Bahgera crawled over (there's no containing her these days) and started handing me stalks of rhubarb. I'd do my cutting and hand them to Mowgli (who nearly always wants to help in some way) who put them into a bowl I had for that purpose. It was magical. It was incredible. I was doing something productive and BOTH my kids were helping. Really and truly helping. At the same time! Let me bask in that for a moment. I'm really just trying to think of more superlatives so that you really know how amazing it was. Like stars aligning, everything standing still. Marvelous. It lasted about 2 minutes--I might be exaggerating the time a bit. It was 2 minutes at the very top. That was a MOMENT, a twinkle light as Brene' Brown calls them. I love to revisit it. The longer moments after that included trying to get something productive done quickly while two very cute kids did everything in their power to make sure that it didn't happen at all. Sigh. Lets go back to that other moment. It was magic, twinkling, sparkling, whisper diamond magic.

Later that day, or maybe it was the next day (Do you really care when it was?) Mowgli and I washed it. This is the marvelous stack that Mowgli built out of the rhubarb that was magically processed at least for a moment.


One other fun moment was near the end of the rhubarb washing when Mowg (we like to call him for short) decided to use the cut and peeled off bits as sea otters. They loved jumping in the water and swishing. Can you see the swish? Look closely. Those playful otters sure had fun.

In the meantime I bagged the goods. Not bad for one day (or was it two?--Aww, it's all MOMENTS remember?!)

Now you know that I know what it means when "they" say that life is about "moments". And you? Do you know? Will you share one with me? Please.