Today, Austin gave me a romantic cactus (I love cacti: they don’t die no matter how mean you are to them!) BUT my best Valentine’s present was being able to take the kids on our first walk together since September.
It was glorious here in the late morning; blue skies, crisp but not cold, and we found ourselves at a park we hardly ever get to. The mallard ducks were out in force, the playground was all ours, and each person we passed on the trail by the river paused to say, “What a great day!” I’m sure all of them had good reasons to be grateful for the beautiful weather, but I felt especially so. The weather wasn’t just beautiful; everything was beautiful, getting to spend a morning like that.
Tomorrow will be the four week anniversary of getting off crutches, and I am still profoundly grateful for the little things I used to take for granted. So many things have been made new for me again. I keep having all these firsts—first shopping trip, first trip to the park, first afternoon outside, first walk. Each first is so sweet—but also each second and third and fourth time too. I am finding that my thankfulness is not wearing off as quickly as I might have thought. The best of everything is getting to hold Molly and walk with her wherever I want (the result: my baby likes me again!). Being on crutches was like a barrier between me and the world; I could think and talk but I couldn’t move. In some ways it felt like living a virtual life. Getting to frolic outside in the afternoons with the kids has been unexpectedly delightful, it feels like the antidote to the virtual life.
God is so good.
