Our Walk

I'll repeat what everyone on Facebook is saying today - it is the most gorgeous day outside!  The sky is clear and blue and there is a breeze....and most importantly....it is in the 80s!  Hurray! 

Craig, myself and the little creatures had a lazy morning complete with Craig and Angie sleeping in while Natalie and I went downstairs for coffee, cream of wheat, a bottle and Dora the Explorer followed up by everyone playing and hanging out in our big bed.  Around ten o'clock we pulled ourselves out of bed and threw on some quick clothes, bundled up the baby girl (well...she wore pants and lightweight hoodie jacket), put on Angie's necklace (or a collar as you might call it) and leash and off we went.  We have the cutest park right by our house with a great playground and duck pond - it was so full this morning!  I guess everyone else in the neighborhood had the same idea we did! 

As we approached the park with puppy dog on the leash and Natalie cooing in her stroller I felt a flashback.  It was on one of these great kind of autumn days that Craig and I were going around with our realtor Hudson Floyd looking at houses.  We drove through our current neighborhood and I saw other people having exactly what I wanted - a house, a dog, a family and Saturday afternoons spent hanging out at the park.  Craig and I weren't even engaged at this time but there wasn't a doubt in my mind that he was the man with whom I wanted to make my dreams come true.

Oh.  That sounded incredibly cheesy didn't it?  I apologize.

But the truth is...as we drove through the neighborhood I saw what I wanted for my future flash before my eyes.  I craved the stability and simplicity that seemed to abound in the families that were playing at the park that day.  Their joy in life wasn't from fancy clothes or decadent dinners but from walking down the street with a little hand clasped in their own on their way to fly down a slide and feed the ducks. 

Having lived here for three years I know that just because the houses are pretty and the park is fun doesn't mean that things going on behind the windows and doors in my neighborhood are sunshine and roses.  But all the stormclouds that come along with being married, raising a child and working two full time (and then some!) jobs can be forgotten for a moment with one simple walk down the street on a beautiful sunny day with my loving husband, my beautiful baby girl and my loyal pup.