Friday, January 25, 2013

I Thankful

Sylvan is sitting at the dinner table.  His fork in his fist, the prongs sticking strait up.  "I thankful," he is not quite shouting. "I thankful. I thankful. I thankful."
"Well, I am thankful... ", Ivory begins.
"NO NO NO NO NO NO. I thankful", Sylvan shouts across the table at her. "I thankful."
"Hold on Ivory.  I think Sylvan is trying to tell us what he is thankful for."
Usually Ivory decides what Sylvan is thankful for.  It is most often the food we are eating or something exciting we did that day while Sylvan stands on his chair at the dinner table turning in circles singing: "Thankful, thankful, thankful."  I usually am poised at the edge of my seat, waiting for the moment that his thankful dance takes him over the edge of his chair.  (Thankfully, that has not happened yet.)  But today it seems he wants to speak for himself.
I thankful is followed by a string of sounds, very serious sounds, and I take his hand and look at him intently trying to figure out what he is trying to tell us.  I had been gone all day and they had spent the day with Adam.  I furrow my brow, I think, I got it: "Skating! You are thankful your dad took you skating."
He squeezes my hand. "I thankful skating."

Sylvan gleefully pushing a five gallon bucket across Rattlesnake pond!
I look to the other end of the table.  "I'm thankful I get to paint Sylvan's birthday bunny head tomorrow."


I look across the table at Adam.
I can't remember if I said my thankfuls or if Adam said his.
I wrestle my hand free from Sylvan's grasp, so we can both use our hands to pick of the burritos sitting on the plates in front of us.

I am thankful.  I am thankful for the food in front of me. I am thankful for the man sitting across the table from me.  I am thankful for the blue faced (he got into the sparkle fabric paint a few days ago), snot nosed, talkative little  jokester to my right.  I am thankful for the always costumed, constant ballerina to my left.  I am thankful for the moments like these that make my breath catch and leave me speechless.

I thankful.

2 comments:

  1. This is beautiful!!! Thanks so much for sharing! I too thankful!
    Omama

    ReplyDelete
  2. They seem to be growing up so fast. We'll have to come up more often once AJ goes to college. We're missing so much.

    ReplyDelete

Time in Lists

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