Her new favorite is instructing her subject to lay flat so she can run a chalk outline, then add things like hair and smiley faces to her people. I was more than happy to oblige, not caring I was still in my work clothes, or what the cars driving past thought.
That's called living without abandon.
When we were kids, my aunt and uncle had an outdoor pool. My cousin, just two years older than I, spent a lot of time home alone in the summers. His parents always told him to never swim alone- ever. Well, one hot, August day, he called my Grandma and pleaded his case: he needed to swim, and he needed her supervision. I remember her telling us the story of when he called. She looked around her kitchen. Things were baking, she was about to can green beans. She was busy. Life was happening. Yet- she said she knew the time would come when my cousin wouldn't call her to swim with him. He'd grow up.
So, she turned everything off and joined him at the pool for a memorable afternoon.
That story has never left me. When the lil' dude asked me this week to lie down the driveway, in my dry-clean only pants, car full of shopping bags, dinner ready to be prepared, toilets needing scrubbing, I just said yes, literally dropping everything.
Because I know there will be a time when she won't ask anymore. But we'll always have that evening in the setting sun.
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