For the past three weeks, I’ve had 11-year-old Dhruv and just-under-six Sara as house guests in DC and we’ve inhabited a magic world. There have been excursions and explorations and discoveries and epiphanies. We have had teasing and laughter and tantrums and tears. Some days have been exhaustingly long – with working and chores and caring for the kids – but then the stress vanished as we chased fireflies at dusk…
And we have had some defining moments… The tooth fairy made two visits in a week, after Sara lost two teeth in quick succession and (but of course) the Calgary fairy was texted to please come to Alexandria, given our current whereabouts. A second missive has been sent since, seeking advice on the best way to eat if one has two missing teeth and third ‘wiggerly’ one! Enriched with $10 from this bountiful tooth fairy, Ms Sara set forth for some ‘jewelry’ shopping at Claire’s and the highlight for me was Dhruv’s insightful and profound comment, spoken in wonderment, “they can take the simplest thing and make it as mindless as possible!”.
Numerous pearls of wisdom have been uttered these past weeks and some of these gems had me scrambling for pen and paper, lest they be forgotten after being spoken! The most precious by far was Sara’s dream yesterday, “I was walking through a rainbow and a unicorn came and picked me up and took me for a ride in the sky”. We should all be so lucky to have dreams such as this!
Now, the house is silent as both children sleep gently in their enchanted worlds. The bags are all packed and standing ready by the door. Their early morning departure hangs over me like a dark and inevitable cloud. And so it goes – till I see them next and share in fresh adventures.
