Perfectly Ordinary

“Do not ask your children to strive for extraordinary lives. Such striving may seem admirable, but it is the way of foolishness. Help them instead to find the wonder and the marvel of an ordinary life.  Show them the joy of tasting tomatoes, apples and pears.  Show them how to cry when pets and people die.  Show them the infinite pleasure in the touch of a hand.  And make the ordinary come alive for them.  The extraordinary will take care of itself.” ~William Martin

This hit home for me this week. We lead "perfectly"ordinary lives in the Stanley home. I also use the word perfectly loosely. We do not have mountains of money nor does Nate have bounds of time to bond with Cece and Arlo. So we make the most of everything that has been given to us and what we work for. We hope that by doing meaningful things with our children will give them a cherished childhood and an abundance of memories. Pumpkin patches, picking out our Christmas tree, town parties, Sunday drives, river wadding and four wheeler rides through the timber. 

We stop to show them sunsets and deer in the fields. I've watched Nate sit with our children in the night to watch the stars. Bonfires and dinners outside on blankets. These are not things that cost any amount of money but our children beg for these activies. They consider them special and fun. 

I'm all to aware that as they grow these things will not be on their list of priorities. Nate and I have come to realize that these years are fleeting and we find ourselves clinging to them. I hope since we are soaking it up as much as we can now, that when it's time to give them more and more space, it wont sting as much. We are also aware that is wishful thinking. 

In the grand scheme of things, one day our kids will be grown and the lessons and life we are giving them in these years will stay with them for years to come. They may even find them so important they pass them down to their own children. 

To think that the moment they found that perfect pumpkin in the field or remember the never ending rows of pine trees each winter, in search of our perfect Christmas tree. The time their Dad let them each drive the four wheeler through the field. All these memories will be things they long to pass down to the next generation is better than any one "thing" you could give a child, in my opinon.