It is hot outside. Maybe 105. It brings people down. They try to escape by shutting out the outside. The artificial air pours out of the vents in the ceiling. Too hot.
The sprinkler is on. Spraying five feet in the air. Naked, they run through. Naked they sprint towards the water. Free to enjoy. Free to smile and laugh as they sweat and giggle.
The same heat. Yet, here, in the life of a child, there is freedom. I want to run naked through the sprinklers. I want to feel such freedom. I want to play with cornstarch and water in my underwear. I don't want to be a child. But I want to be free.
"Then one day the boy came to the tree and the tree said, 'Come, Boy, come and climb up my trunk and swing from my branches and eat apples and play in my shade and be happy.'
'I am too big to climb and play,' said the boy." The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
Being a parent allows me to watch Carson and Bracken exemplify freedom. They are pictures of perspective. They truly see what is important in life. They know that playing together is more important than weeding the garden. They realize that imagining ourselves into different characters is more rewarding than picking up toys.
So often, I am the boy. I live believing that I am too old to be free. I am too old to swing from the branches and play in the shade.
Summer allows me to learn from my children. I spend the year teaching others and it is in the summer months that I get to spend more time with two wonderful human beings who teach me to laugh, to stop, to be better, to turn everything into a game.
We started off the month of June with a trip to Mission Viejo. Carson and Bracken loved playing with their cousins Lincoln and Paxton. They are still able to smother the boys, but Lincoln will soon enough be bigger than both of them and they will no longer be able to push him around. We celebrated Nick's birthday with birthday hats and candles.
Nick took some lessons from my dad on how to manage the tractor. He really is turning into a farmer. One day he will teach Bracken and Carson. But for now, they will settle for rides on the tractor. Every time Bracken sees the tractor or the lawn mower, he says, "Me ride."
The smiles on Carson and Bracken's faces in these pictures bring me joy. There is nothing fake about their smiles. They really laughed hysterically as they ran through the sprinkler. They really concentrated intently as they mixed water and corn starch. They were truly amazed as they watched fish swim by at the Lego Land Aquarium.
As July begins, I will spend more time climbing, swinging, eating, and playing in the shade. I will spend more time following Carson and Bracken.