I took them to Edwin Warner Park, where we leisurely walked along the greenway before dinner. I spotted a huge patch of clover right after we got there and decided to do something I haven't done since I was a student at H.W. Gwin Elementary about 30 years ago. I tied a string of clovers together and made a necklace for William, who promptly asked for a matching bracelet. Then I made a matching clover necklace for Andrew. He wants to be just like his big brother, after all.
And as the sun began to dip lower in the sky, we just...meandered. We look at the bees buzzing around in the grass, and we watched airplanes flying over our heads. Yes, Andrew chased after a few dogs, which necessitated my sprinting after him a couple of times. But other than those few bursts of speed, we mostly just ambled and talked and enjoyed the nice day together. In fact, both boys wanted to hold my hand for long stretches of the walk, and that was just fine with me.
We walked, we meandered, we ambled. Together. Shamed by a recent article making the rounds on the Internet about not living in the now because of the smartphone distraction, I kept my phone in my pocket. Well, except to snap a few shots of the boys in their clover necklaces. And as I held both of their hands, I thought, "This. This is what I want to always remember."
So yes, there are still--and will continue to be--plenty of times when I'm trying to do five things at once. There will be phone calls I really do have to take, and there will be times when I can't devote every single molecule of attention to them. But there are times when I am making myself slow down and live in the here-and-now. Those are such precious times, and when I make them a priority, I am always so glad. I hope that the boys will remember them, too.
