Keep the Joy
Posted by: Peanut in MyBlog on Dec 02, 2016
Maisie finds joy in so many things.
So many things that I often think of as chores are things she will excitedly ask to participate in. It’s the most wonderful reminder that the world is very much what we chose to make of it. Recently Maisie taught me this lesson when it was time to shovel off the porch. She was excited about her newly repaired hand-me-down snow pants and put them on as soon as I was finished (and then again after I fixed the part where I’d accidentally sewn the leg shut). She ran around the house singing “Oh, I love my hand-me-downs” and asked to go outside* and use her shovel. I hadn’t been looking forward to dealing with the snow and would have been happy to stay sitting in the rocker a bit longer but it was clear that wasn’t an option.
And we had fun. Maisie shovelled off portions of the porch and even some of the driveway, carefully piling her snow just to the right of the steps. She insisted that she do the steps herself and I was not allowed to help until she was all done her part. Rob and Abby headed out for a walk and we stayed outside and moved snow around and cleaned off the whole porch and talked about how we would make warm cocoa when we got back inside. When we were done Maisie put her shovel away carefully next to mine so it would be ready for next time. Not only did we get more shovelling done that I would have bothered to do by myself. I actually found myself smiling when I woke up the next day to fresh snow falling and a thick new layer already covering the porch and car.
*She refused to wear her jacket but did concede to putting on a sweater. It wasn’t really too cold outside. She insisted her hat be on this direction.