these days it seems I spend more time in my car . . . waiting. For school pick-up mostly. But it's okay. I stock the car with a few magazines, a book, and favorite CDs to make the time go by.
I was sitting in the car the other day, waiting to pick up Anna. I think I had a good 10 minutes on my hands. I started to look around myself, at the pieces of everyday life that exist in my van and in the view around me.
In my lap,
BYU Magazine. It comes quarterly and I love reading it. To feel connected, just a bit, to my alma mater. In this issue there was a Q&A article with Dr. Lora Beth Brown, my FSN 100 (food science & nutrition) instructor . . . fall semester 1996. It was that class which helped me decide to choose Nutritional Science as my major. Stowed next to me I also have The Ensign, Creating Keepsakes, and book 2 in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, "The Sea Monster".
In the passenger seat,
a scarf, umbrella, my old-school cell phone (yes, it has a little antennae), and Little Golden Books that belonged to me when I was little. Anna quite enjoys them. Baby Dear was a favorite of mine -- about a little girl whose parents give her a baby doll on the day that mommy comes home from the hospital with a real baby sister. The little girl mimics everything the mom does with the baby. In the book they play "This little piggy", so I played the same game with Anna's little toes the first time we read this together. She just lit up and asked me to do it over & over again. I realized, then, that I haven't played this game since she was a baby and she doesn't remember it! And because we don't have babies in our house anymore she has never heard it! It was an interesting, strange feeling to realize that Anna will never be exposed to all the baby stuff that was just a part of my life (I was 10 years old when my 4th brother was born). In a few years I may need to *borrow* someone's baby so I can teach her a thing or two.
Behind me,
bunny, tossed on the floor. She has no name, other than "bunny" and Anna has no desire to name her anything else. Bunny goes lots of places with us . . . the grocery store, Wal-mart, to visit friends. Often she has to be buckled up in her own seat. And sometimes she gets zipped up inside Anna's jacket with her head poking out.
Out the window,
valentine's projects taped to the inside of the preschool window. I love that all 3 of my kids have attended preschool here and, for the most part, have had the same teachers. And the well-loved preschool t-shirt has, amazingly, survived all 3 kids so Anna can wear it every week on t-shirt day.
My 10 minutes are up. The moms gather and the kids are released up the stairs one by one. My reward for patiently waiting and reflecting . . . .
this face! Ready to plant a juicy smooch on me. And I'll take it.
