Small Things on a Friday

We are so apt to pay attention to the big things in our lives, aren't we? Weddings, births, vacations, emergencies, parties, milestones. Big things. Often we forget about the little things that keep us going day to day. Morning routines, daily habits, workplace friends, conversations with our family. Life can feel monotonous at times, but when those little daily happenings don't happen anymore we notice them. It should serve as a reminder that those small things, really aren't small after all. When Tyler was a baby I used to look at him laid out on a blanket on the floor and will him to do something. Roll over, sit up, crawl, talk. Of course, the next thought was Don't grow up! A losing battle, obviously.

This week's moments included watching my son record his Fresno adventures in his Book of Friends. This kid has a whole journal devoted to his friends. He writes up a description of each one and asks me to take pictures of them when we are together so he can paste them up in his book. This morning he worked hard on his book, coloring and stapling and writing. He included the friends he made at Dinkey Creek and all his VBS buddies from this last week.

As a kid I moved around a ton. By fourth grade I had lived in three states and attended four schools and by the end of high school I had gone to three more schools. These aren’t the best circumstances for lifelong friendships, though I do have a couple friends from junior high still. My kids will have the opportunity to grow up with friends they have had since infancy, which is something I have always wanted. It's small, while really not being small at all.

In 1993 my parents moved us back to Sacramento, which is where they both grew up. Gunther's has been a part of my memory since I was a little girl. One of my earliest memories is of going with my Grandpa to pick up my uncle who worked at Gunther's. I remember the wooden booths and clown cones and the thrill of still being in the ice cream shop after it closed while my uncle swept up. The best thing about Gunther's is that it never changed. It's still the same ice cream shop that my uncle worked at as a teenager, that I went to as a kid, that my grandmother went to as a college student. I love being able to give these little memories to my kids.

While our lives have lots of big, memorable moments, those small moments are what hold us together. Our kids sweetly helping each other with homework, Friday afternoon trips to get ice cream, long summer days at the pool, trips to the fair, laughing about classic tv together, road trips with endless games of "I Spy", morning snuggles before the day starts...the list is endless. The beauty of camera phones is the ability to capture really teeny tiny moments, some of which are so fleeting I miss them completely. The big moments are really just occasional exclamation points in the stories of our lives. The small ones are what make the story real.