On Saturday, I took Hannah shopping for some fabric. There are only 2 weeks left of school, and it's turning into fun-central. The children are allowed to choose 2 activities they'd like to learn, such as piano playing, sewing, cooking, mystery solving, rugby, etc. The school has given this a fancy title of Project Based Learning. Hannah chose sewing as one of hers. A list came home of the supplies we would need to buy for her to sew a dress. It's not often I get one-on-one time with each of the children. When i mention taking one out for some reason, invariably another speaks up and wants to join. But this past Saturday, Hannah and i were able to sneak out to shop for materials for her special dress. She felt very important and special because it was just the two of us. After she chose gorgeous materials, I told her I needed to stop by Sears to pick up Evie's pictures. Guess what was set up in the parking lot of the mall? A fair...carnival rides! Hannah was so excited and really wanted to go on just one ride. I hadn't planned to do this, and truthfully, I needed to get us back home for dinner. But children's years pass by so fast. And my time with them is so often spent in the daily grind. Here was a chance to pull my head up and out of the ordinary and....create a memory. An unexpected sliver of fun that hopefully we will each remember as a stolen moment of companionship. Hannah's heart cried out for the ferris wheel, that huge wheel of fun so high up it looked like it was in the clouds. It was $4 per person to ride it. And $8 later we had a priceless memory. The operator was kind...he let me on for free. So I used my tickets to let Hannah ride one more, and she chose the carousel. We had fun, just the two of us up there with the clouds so close. After our clandestine carnival play, key to our survival was keeping mum about this to the other children. One slipped word and my head would be on a platter! But Hannah was as good as gold...she never breathed a word. She likes to smile a secret smile, and cryptically hint at a priceless treasure only she and I know about. As for me...I can't wait to fall into some unplanned adventure again :)
