This afternoon:
Surrounded by grey and icy whiteness as the rat-a-tat rain both misted and pelted, we snugged ourselves in by a roaring fire. The family room and the kitchen glowed around us. Amie visited and brought me a bowl of her rustic minestrone soup and homemade rosemary garlic and romano flatbread. Total deliciousness, warming for body and soul. We sat around the coffee table, near the fire, and Amie, Katie, and I worked on several of Katie's puzzles. Puzzles and a fire on a rainy day is my idea of cozy joy.
Right before dinner I had an idea. I asked Katie if she would like to go outside and splash around and stomp in puddles with me. I wish I could adequately describe the look of wonder on her face as she considered and realized how much fun that would be, as if I had just said something so incredible as to be the stuff of toddler dreams. She was so excited. We played outside for almost an hour, stomping and kicking around in absolutely every puddle we could find---in both the back and front yards. We were drenched, as some light rain was still coming down. We have an absolutely ginormous puddle in our backyard that comes right up to the patio, and Katie exclaimed, "We have our own beach!!!!!!" We ran back and forth holding hands, looked at raindrops on trees and leaves, caught in our hands the rain falling from the eaves, and danced and sang. She said, "This is so much fun!" Eventually we came in, and I gave Katie a warm bubble bath and put on her coziest jammies. Bill wrapped her up in all her blankets on the couch while I made dinner.
A moment of absolutely perfect happiness...
