Thursday November 24, 2005
Thursday November 24, 2005 Cross posting this to my old Sun blog http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/cmh and my new blog at http://clairegiordano.org/blog/
Friday afternoons are special. I forget about work and pick my children up from school. Not by the car line. I park about 2 blocks away and walk in, amid the hurry of all the parents. Ten minutes later, I walk back to the car accompanied by two children. They are bubbling with stories. Sometimes they hold my hand, sometimes they don't. Sometimes they smile and sometimes they bicker. And always they want something.
Things get more special after that. We pack the swim bag and a snack and drive to swim team. I park, the children scamper across the parking lot, we walk through the gate. The three of us then go our separate ways. My daughter into the pool. My son to wander and play - to swing on jungle gyms, play with a tire swing, stand next to the coach. As often as I can get away with being antisocial, I sit alone and watch both of them. The splashing of swimmers beats steady. The coach's voice booms and reverberates. "Up down up down up down up down. Kick both ways. Both ways!" A group of children who on their own would easily create chaos are seamlessly organized. They share the lanes, navigating by each other. My son plays, my daughter swims, my mind wanders. Watching the swimmers practice is like watching the waves rush in and out on a beach.
This moment is my favorite part of the week. It's not just the peacefulness of it all, or the time alone yet together. Sometimes you have to forget about everything for a while to figure out what's worth remembering. When I watch them on Fridays at swim team, I get to forget. So that I can remember.
(2005-11-24 01:06:25.0) Permalink
