A Dream Day

Do you ever have one of those moments where you wish you were being followed by a photographer?

Have you ever had one of those times when the moment turns out better than expected and you wish someone was following you to document it?

To backtrack, when I traded in my state government issued business cards for my full-time Mommy card, I had a very clear picture of what this new job would be like. It would be full of my two, sweet, loving, and always obedient children listening to me and following me around. Each day would be chock full of perfectly planned activities like fingerpainting, playdates with themed meals, pudding painting, singing songs, learning letters, lunches with girlfriends, and sitting around in living rooms sipping coffee and talking about our families. Yep, I was going to live the dream! Was I delusional?

Yes, totally.

In my defense, I went back to work full-time when baby girl was six months old. About a month later, we found out we were pregnant with baby boy. So I had ten months to develop this dream. Come to find out, there wasn’t this other organized building of mommies. No one was organizing these perfectly planned playdates and coffees. And you wouldn’t believe the mess you make in your house when you are actually in it 24 hours a day.

Occassionally, I know I am doing this Mommy thing right. There are some dream-like moments and when we are lucky enough, they carry us on through until naptime. These are the moments when I wish there was an outsider, a professional photographer, following me and my monkeys and perfectly documenting the sweet looks, the discoveries, and total fun we are having. Then, I could keep those moments for so much longer.

Friday was as close to the “dream” as I think I can get on any given normal day. I dropped our daughter off at school and then shoved off to meet some girls for coffee. We sat and chatted about normal things, our three cute blond-haired boys in tow, without any major obstructions. Nice. Then we checked out a new local boutique in town. Also, nice. We chatted a little more and then headed to our next errands. My morning was slightly interrupted by running into another Mommy who was so stylishly dressed, made up, and ready to meet the world. I was instantly reminded of my pulled back hair, lack of make up, shorts, t-shirt, and messy kid. Yes, I was envious, but I digress from the dream. I quickly pulled myself out of it, hit a few more little shops and then made my way back to school.

There was more fun to be had this afternoon. One of my daughter’s classmates had invited us to a picnic lunch. It was going to be at a “greenspace." A what? Yes, I was a total skeptic.

You mean, no slide, no swings, no fence? What will we do? One Mommy suggested we bring a soccerball. Ok, soccerball, great idea. I diligently packed lunches, a blanket, and the ball. After school, we headed out to this "greenspace." It was a huge, slightly overgrown field with a gorgeous patch of old oaks with picnic tables underneath. I started to feel some calm, a weird feeling these days.

Then the girls started off, running towards the trees, through the long grass, sometimes holding hands, sometimes racing. They kicked up little field bugs and frolicked. From the moment we got to that field, the rest of the afternoon was fairly picturesque. We played in the trees, engaged in hide and seek, ran back and forth for red light/green light, and a held a classic game of chase. Under the disguise of “leading the children,” I even ran around in the field, arms spread out like an airplane. So free. The afternoon was completed when one Mommy brought out scarfs and the kids danced, flew, and just soaked up the sun.

They were kids, simply playing, in a field.

I wished I had thought of it.

I wished there was a breeze so we could skip naps and stay out there all afternoon.

I wished I could capture all of the simple moments between Mommies and their little monkeys.

Aww, pure fun.

As we marched back to the parking lot, the kids all red in the face, sweaty, yet still taking in the day, I knew we had done this one right. The kids loved it, and the Mommies did too.

As one of the Mommies said, “We shall plan other picnics and random acts of fun.”

Perfect.

With that day, I learned a little more about simple, in a very good way.

Thank you ladies, for a great morning. There will be more "random acts of fun!"