You Are My Sunshine...

Earlier this afternoon I listened to the steady little snores of two three-year-old boys and the happy babbling of one little eighteen-month-old from the back of my car.  And I just felt overwhelmingly grateful.  I don't know what it is about these three... they have something you just can't put into words... my trio of magic makers.

And today, they worked like dedicated little soldiers in the yard with their mama.  So much so, that a quick trip in the car proved to be too much and their lashes greeted their little sun kissed cheeks for a late afternoon rest.

I am just so proud of them.  And I am proud of their fervent devotion to the outside.  They innately find simple pleasure working alongside me beneath the warm sun as they point out birds, rocks, trees and flowers and swing around treasures in the form of blue willow sticks and fallen blossoms.

I want this for them.  I want their muscles to be hard, their work ethic to be solid and their appreciation of the earth to be religious.  Because this life presents things I fear and things I hope -- for all of them.  And though they may have to live an urban life... a life far from this home in the mountains that they were born into... little pieces of bucolic bliss can be found every single day if they use their keen senses to find them.

That love affair with Mother Nature was inevitable, you know.  They come from a long line of "outsiders"...  and I want them to know that.  My mama was a desert girl.  She spent her days alternating between the farm on a horse and on the lake atop waterskis as a sun goddess in action.  My dad was a mountain boy.  He spent his days fishing hidden lakes atop the Boulder Mountain or hunting deer alongside his brothers.  I got the best of both of them.  And even if it is simply mowing the lawn... I far prefer to work outside than in.  So when it comes time to scrub toilets, you better believe that every window in the house is open in an attempt to "Tom Sawyer" the breeze to come in and join me.

Yes, we need that outside air.  We need to fill our lungs with the scent of pine trees and breathe out the worries of the world that are all around us.  We need to kick our legs in fresh waters and crunch fallen leaves beneath our boots.  We need to stain our toes green with freshly mowed grass and feel the red sands of home between our fingers.  And we've learned through experience, that it is all the more enjoyable when we do it together... and almost out of this world when you include the hose.  :)

The world is resilient and beautiful and surprising and it offers so much.  Just like my baby boys.  

 

And my wish for them is this:  that they often look for the simple, grounding beauty of nature.  That they sometimes make great effort to behold a breathtaking vista.  And that they always, always be the Sunshine of life.