Simple, But Priceless

Yesterday I walked almost two miles one way to our favorite produce market. I was nervous about making this trip out, because I had the walk a lot longer in my head. I imagined walking and walking for hours with three children throwing a fit in the stroller. But, I pushed on and did it! We walked through the park to get to the main road. At the park a baseball game was starting. I remember my nephews playing games here and thought about searching them out just in case they were there, but I thought, “Nah, what are the odds?”
After shopping for all the right groceries and stuffing every available space in my stroller with fruits and vegetables we headed back home. We stopped for an early lunch at Wienerschnitzel. Nathan wouldn’t stop talking about baseball, so we walked back through the park so he could watch the baseball game.
At the park was a man with a metal detector. When Kaeley asked what he was doing I told her he was searching for coins, necklaces, and the like. She later found a penny and started running to the man. I thought she was going to ask him what he doing, but instead she tried giving him her penny. He didn’t accept it, but I was very touched by her generosity.
Nathan never did watch the baseball game. Kaeley chased butterflies. Nathan chased squirrels. I chased Nathan. It was perfect weather. I kept watching the children in gratitude. To think that I could be working in an office somewhere and missing all this. It was just a precious afternoon. I say afternoon, because by evening I felt that Nathan had tried to attach himself to my hip. When I wasn’t holding him he would cling to my legs. He is constantly (seriously constantly) yelling, “Hi, Mommy. Hi, Mommy. Hi, Mommy.” I was totally worn out by his constant talking and moving. I actually had to escape into the bedroom after dinner due to the fact that one more thing was going to send me over the edge. I wasn’t particularly angry, but I was losing my ability to be emotionally stable. I thought I’m either going to scream to let out the tension or I’m going to sit on the floor and laugh hysterically until I cry.
But anyway, that wasn’t until later.
When we were walking out of the park my brother-in-law approached me! Tyler, my nephew, was playing after all. A few minutes later my sister-in-law and her two youngest walked in. That was a pleasant surprise to say the least.
It was a good day. I look forward to walking to the produce store again. Of course, I bought enough produce to last me a year.