January 20, 2018
She interrupts me. Clutching a brush and opening her hand to reveal two tiny, mismatched hairbands, she demands a hairdo.
“Two pigtails. High ones and tight ones.”
“Please….” I remind her.
We go through this every day: urgent pigtails, insisted and expected, usually an interruption.
“Okay. Let me rinse the soap off my hands; let me finish writing this sentence; let me finish making this sandwich; let me…pause a moment before you grow any older and discover braids and bangs, home haircuts and celebrity styles.”
Pigtails, STAT.
________
I looked through the tiny handprints to the familiar puddles outside running together and forming streams down our neighborhood streets. Rain fell in a sheet of lines, ricocheting continuously on the pooling pavement, our only shimmer on a gray day.
Housework or sunshine? The internet virtually handed me a washcloth; our search for sun yielded no results.
“Where are we going?” asked the kids. “We’re going somewhere, right?”
“Get your warm clothes on; grab your coats. Let’s GO.”
Driving toward the freeway, we followed the horizon for twenty-five minutes and found sun. Howarth Park in Everett, WA, best known for it’s beachside dog park and wooden staircase lookout bridge, entertained the kids for a brief while, but the tide was in leaving little room to run, and the search continued.
Twenty minutes later, we arrived at the next stop, Picnic Point Park and Beach in Edmonds/Lynnwood, WA, and we almost didn’t get out of the car. We could see the sun, but we didn’t know if it would come to us. The sky separated in two, a line drawn in the sky, gloomy with rain on one side, and vivid and shining on the other. We took our chances and ran toward the sun.
Walking further, a bit of rain led to mist, and then faintly, a rainbow appeared. Just as suddenly, it brightened, fully-arching and mesmerizing. The kids forgot the cold. They stood in awe. Pigtails flying, hair askew, they stood together, a moment etched into their childhoods, footprints dimpled in the sand.
Please comment below! What tiny detail will you always remember about your kid(s)?
We’d love to hear from you. 🙂
~Angela and Chris