In Which I Demonstrate My Sentimentality

Cora and I inspected the peach tree last night, looking for baby peaches that survived the late frost we had this spring.

I found one and pointed it out to her.

The sheer excitement on her face at seeing that little baby peach, and then another, and another, was just priceless. Here eyes got big, her mouth turned into a little pink "O" that was quickly replaced by the biggest, happiest smile. She raced around in circles, barefoot on the grass, singing a song about how much she loves peaches. Then she raced back up to me and asked if we could share a peach with Mr. Tweets, because she thought he would really like just one, and that we could eat the rest. I told her no way! But that we would eat the peaches over vanilla ice cream, one of our favorite summer treats. This set her off racing in circles again, singing and giggling and laughing excitedly at the prospect of peaches and ice cream in her future. Then she came barreling straight at me, threw herself into my legs, wrapped her arms around me, looked up at me, and said, "I love you. You're the best mommy in my whole world."

It was a little thing, a little moment, but one to savor. Little girl excitement over something so simple, but a pure and thorough sort of excitement, sprinkled with love and gratitude for good measure. Is there anything more beautiful?

Life is full of what I think of as "moments to keep." Little, insignificant moments in life that really aren't insignificant at all. They're what make it (almost) bearable to watch our children grow up before our eyes at a rate much faster than we're comfortable with. Life - parenting, especially - is full of stress and worry and frustration. But these little Moments to Keep bring us back from the negative, give us a little piece of happiness to hold on to, remind us that life really is beautiful and lovely and happy... at least, sometimes.