I heard a clip on NPR the other day interviewing the author of Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids. It has really resonated with me, not because he said anything that I didn't already believe to be true, but it has just helped me to understand exactly why Matilda and I are so content just to spend the day with our children. And the next day, and the day after that one. They are just so much fun, it is almost indescribable. 
Take today, for instance. We woke up shortly after the sun came peeking up over the edge of the earth and immediately began watching highlights of the Royal Wedding per the request of His Royal Highness Jackson, who adamantly wanted to see "the horsies and soldiers" again. (Matilda: "At least he wasn't interested in the dress.."). We counted out Cheerios that were split equally amongest ourselves and the dog, then dressed and headed over to Country Park for the NF Charity Walk. Met up with friends, played on the playground, walked the 5K, and ate our very first snowcone, which was a huge (and not too terribly messy) hit. Lunch with Matilda and a family nap and then playtime in the back yard watering flowers and swinging in the hammock. Phrases of week seem to be primarily "Hi there, I missed you today" "Momma, what cha doing?" "Momma, no talk to Jack." "No, no poop. Just gas" and my favorite one to date, "Bye bye, I love you." There were no schizophrenic meltdowns or pooptastrophies today and both children were generally communicative and adorable.
After naptime, we decided to take the kids over to Bicentennial Park to get some photos in the beautiful afternoon sun. We weren't the only ones with that idea, though. Apparently it's Prom Day in Greensboro, so hundreds of gowned, perfumed, corsaged teenaged couples were swarming the park, many with their own professional photographers following them with large reflectors and cameras the size of small satellites. While I am appalled that Prom has become akin to wedding status with the extended cab humvees and for-hire personal paparazzi, I am pleased to see that the dress style has returned to a more appropriate length from just a few years past (yes, I recognize I am becoming an old lady prude).
As we played in the dirt with our dumptruck and ate enough mulch to constipate a buffalo, I couldn't help but sneak peeks at the high school hubbabaloo going on just a few flower gardens away. As entertaning as the dresses were to watch, it's the parents that I really was drawn to. Every once in awhile, I would catch eyes with one that was no doubt wondering how they had gotten from my position to theirs in such a blink of an eye.
I know the next 18 years are going to fly by even faster than the last 27 months have. I wonder if other mothers feel the same overwhelming and sometimes crippling need to fine Father Time and beg him to slow down. I can't help but wonder what those mothers at the park this afternoon were thinking. I pray it was a happy nostalgia for a wonderful past but an excited anticipation and hope for what continues to lie ahead. So far, it has only gotten more and more fun to watch these littles ones come into their own.
“On with the dance! Let Joy be unconfined.”
The Eve of Waterloo, Lord Byron
