And yet this season somehow brought me so many opportunities to be in the moment, enjoy the weather, savor the surroundings and be slow and deliberate. Maybe it's living in the suburbs,the quiet, the lack of a list and the absence of a destination. Maybe it's Yousef, Jannah-Rae or the "new" me. Or maybe it's the trees, the leaves, the scenery. Whatever it is has certainly changed the way I look at, and see, things and "make" memories.
One such memory was on a beautiful morning when Yousef had been up early and I had little errands to do around the house. I think it was a Tuesday. The "pressing" issue of the day was to drop off Jeff's shirts at the dry cleaner's before picking up Jannah-Rae from school at 12:30. The dry cleaner is located at the end of the road leading to the development before reaching the traffic light and after passing the school, the playground and the pool. On average it takes about 25 minutes to get there by foot, but on that day it took three hours! Yousef and I headed out a little after nine and barely made it in time to get JR before they turned the lights off in the classroom.
Like every time we embark on a walk to pick JR up from school, Yousef that day was on a mission: to take in as much of the sights, sounds, smells, and feels of the day as he could.
He pushed JR's doll stroller and off he went to his "regular" spots.
He checked out Fall decorations.
He looked for the cat underneath the neighbor's car, woof woofed after the walking dogs, and pointed and squealed in delight at the squirrels.
He "fed" the "dog."
And inspected the lady bug.
We played hide and seek, had our snacks on the side of the road, and picked up acorns.
He climbed on the produce bleachers, inspected the wheels on the stroller and emptied and refilled its basket out several times.
He played with the leaves.
And more leaves!
He asked to be held, then squirmed to get down. He laughed, nodded and talked.
He had a fit.
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