Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Shadows

Yesterday afternoon, Olivia had found a nice long beam of sunlight coming through one of my mom's kitchen windows and was dancing with her shadow.

Every few minutes, someone would step across her beam of light and disrupt her choreography and she'd whine or grunt at them, letting the perpetrator know of her frustration with them.

Alyssa discovered O's dance floor and tried to take over, standing just behind Olivia in the light, taking away her shadow.

This did not sit well with Olivia. She tried to push her sister out of the way, but a 32 pounder doesn't have much power against someone who weighs 57 pounds.

I stepped in and told Alyssa to go find her own sunlight in which to play.

I know. The stupid things we say to our children.

But my girls have always enjoyed shadow dancing.

When Alyssa was about two years old, she announced to my mom one day, "Grammy look! My shadow thinks I'm big!"

My mom loves to tell that story. She thinks it's one of the most clever things she's ever heard.

There have been a lot of shadows these days.

But watching Olivia dancing in that sunbeam, seeing her and Alyssa fight over the warmth and glow of the light reminded me that there can't be shadows without light.

And when I see a shadow looming, I need to remember to turn and seek out the light that is making the shadow possible.

My world is a good one.

Sure, I'm bogged down with the day to day stuff, but I wouldn't trade my day to day with anyone in the world. Even if Tom were to offer to trade with me, I might take him up for a few hours, but I can't imagine not being there to watch Olivia dance with her shadow, or Alyssa flip across the mat at gymnastics class.

I'm the lucky one and I need to remember that more often. My girls are my light and sure, my shadow is lurking behind me as I bask in their light but wow, the way they shine amazes me every single day.

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