Pick Ups

Every single day when I take my girls the three miles from our house to my mom's, I think about how lucky I am. I'm lucky to have these girls to have to take to my mom's. I'm lucky to have a mother who is able willing to take care of my girls for me while I work and I'm lucky to only have to drive them three miles to get there.

In the weeks before school let out, Tom was doing the majority of the pick ups in the late afternoon.

These last few days, I've realized how much I miss picking the girls up.

Pick up is so much more relaxed than drop off. I have to get cereal around for them, remember to give my mom pertinant details, blah, blah, blah. And then, suddenly, it's time to leave for work.

But pick ups? So much less stressful. I get there and the kids (including the nephew) are either jumping in the bounce house, which Olivia tells me every single time that Gram got it at Rural King!!! Or they're splashing in small buckets of water. They're relaxed, having fun, enjoying the hot summer days in all the ways I'd hoped they would.

I put my feet in one of the buckets of water on my mom's deck, she puts hers in the other and we talk for a bit while the kids clamor for attention from both of us.

At one point or another, either Jaxon or Olivia will take off their clothes and prance around nude for a bit, bringing Alyssa to tears of laughter.

This is what we wanted, this sense of family, community, of belonging. This is what was missing all those years of commuting. Now there is no urgency to get on the road. We only have to drive for three miles now, there's no need to try and beat the clock.

We can splash a little longer, bounce a few more times, laugh at naked baby butts and talk about our days in the heat of the afternoon sun.

This is family and I'm so, so lucky to have the one I have.