Lola was berating me last night. She hadn’t been on a walk for two days and she had a lot of pent-up energy seeking release. It was half past dark, so I promised her we would go first thing this morning.
It may not have been the first thing we did, but I kept my promise.
The afternoon highs are still in the 90s here, but we have experienced the hope of fall. The winds shifted a couple of days ago and there was the slightest, but real, hint of fall. You could feel it. You could breathe it.
As I was contemplating the potential of cooler weather, I noticed a pecan growing on a young tree right at eye level as we walked by. That pecan transported me back to the days when my oldest daughter was a toddler and we would take walks and find treasures. A pecan lying on the ground would have qualified.
I found her a shoebox and we called it her Treasure Box. It became the dedicated space for all the treasures she picked up and brought home from a walk or found in our yard.
So on my walk this morning, I found myself picking up the kinds of treasures my daughter might have found 25 years ago – feathers, shiny rocks (always a favorite), acorns, acorn tops (good hats for fairies), pretty leaves (none of those today), and anything else that looked interesting.
It was a happy memory – walking with a little one, oooh-ing at a new find, talking about the newest treasure – what it was and why we enjoyed it, putting them in the treasure box, taking them out to look at again when we added more treasures. I hoped she would learn that real treasures are not found in a store.
My daughter added to her treasure box for a couple of years and hung onto it even longer. Sometime in her tweens, she went through the Treasure Box one last time and threw everything out.
I may have been more sensitive to this memory today because of something I saw on GMA before our walk. It seems that a young mother of a 10-week-old baby blogged that she was taking a vacation for six days. She wouldn’t be taking the baby with her. She has received a lot of flak.
It was annoying that GMA, in discussing this, paired one of their doctors with a “real housewife” from somewhere who, I thought, had nothing of value to say. I wondered how the doctor had allowed herself to be paired with this woman. I felt humiliated for her (the doctor). I changed the channel.
All I can say is – I hope this young mother comes back from her vacation refreshed and renewed. I hope she misses her baby while she is gone, for if she does, then there is a bond between them. And I hope they fill a Treasure Box together.
Great story, with great memories. I hate shows or posts like the one you described about the young mother, but then perhaps she shouldn’t have blogged about it. It’s really no one else’s business.
Having plunged into the world of blogging, I always find myself second-guessing what should or should not be said in the context of my blog. As I learned from my early mistakes with email, once you hit publish/send, it can’t ever really be taken back. If you catch me teetering on the edge, please pull me back!
I think blogging is a great, but like anything you have to put on some filters. A lot of bloggers do it for the publicity or ads, which I have mixed feelings about. With any public domain you just have to be ready to handle the public opinions that come with it. I think you are doing a great job.
Thanks, but like I said, pull me back from the edge if you ever see me headed there! I was just reading a genealogy related blog post saying how important it is to be personal in your blog so that people feel as though they know you – like a friendly face or someone you enjoy talking to. Always a balancing act. I’m always trying to filter myself on Facebook, so at least I had a little practice there.