My Gravitational Pull

“It’s a beautiful day,” I said. “Go outside and play.”

I was met with grumbles and “I don’t want to.” I shrugged and grabbed a big blanket and my e-reader. It’s been a long couple of weeks for me and rest has been on short supply. Laying in the warm sun for a little while is exactly what I need. The to-do list is long, but I need a break.

I lay out my blanket and stretch out, eager for a little quiet time. Time to let my body and my mind still. The birds add lively music. Insects hum.

One by one they appear. My children. They gather around me, my large blanket quickly growing smaller as they stretch out beside me. I bend my extended legs to make room. I have to laugh. These are the same children that moments ago told me they did not want to be outdoors. But here they are.

I put away the book I’m reading and ask one of them to go and get our current read aloud. I read The Wild Robot, doing all the voices, of course. We read about Roz the Robot and the tiny gosling, Brightbill who has imprinted on her. Brightbill who is so happy in her mechanical mother’s arms.

I have to wonder. How much longer will I have this gravitational pull in my children’s lives? How long will my location influence theirs? They as 12, 10, and 8, after all. It can’t be too many more years. Frankly I was a little surprised all of them came.

I see the new tugs on their life. Relished moments of new independence. Moments in which they get to test their wings. One day they will be soaring all on their own. And I will lay out a blanket in my backyard, and that blanket won’t shrink. So today I will rejoice that it was smaller than I’d expected it to be.