Plum Nice

As the summer heat was disspating in the lazy Sunday late evening, my family was out in the backyard. Each of us were doing various things. Husband's dad brought over some tomato plants. So husband dug a hearty hole into the earth for each of them. As he dug, the pitchfork immersed itself into a giant root system of a rather immature tree he recently removed. Husband wrestled with the pitchfork and root system. The grass tore open, oozing mud and there the mighty root lay, fighting tooth and nail, stubbornly refusing to give up it's happy home.

As Husband wrestled The Mighty Tree Trunk, me and My Eldest picked up plums from the grass that had fallen off the tree on the other side of the yard. Most of the plums have rotted, molded, been eaten by birds or become the home of some insect's eggs (ick). Little One is tromping round the yard like a godzilla. She stomps the soft, rotten plums so they squish and gush between her toes, all the while smacking her lips working on the meat of a fresh pick I managed to find directly from the tree just for her. She is wearing only a Sesame Street-tagged diaper and a smile that exhibits a mere 3 pearly white teeth. (Poor kid looks like a hillbilly, God love her...) She smiles up at me so proud of her fruit and frolick. I squirt her with the hose. She's both frightened and exhilarated at the same time. She pulls the plum from her mouth, bats her eyes like flies are dive bombing into them and wobbles her stance. My Eldest laughs out loud and manages to request, "Mommy! Squirt me!! Squirt me!!"

So, me, in all my Mighty Momminess, empowered with a pregnant hose, lets loose the water. I spray the girls and they run in circles, laughing and carrying on. They try to eat their fruit in between laughs and squirts. My Eldest is soaking wet in her tshirt and shorts, while My Little One's diaper is increasingly bloated. Their legs are covered in freshly cut grass shavings. There is mud and plum on their bare feet. And then it hit me.

I froze this moment in time. I stopped and took a mental picture.

*click*

I watched my daughters having the best summer fun. And I was the source of it...this time. I pray at least My Eldest will have this memory vividly emblazed on her consciousness, too. I hope when she's 14 or 27 or 66, she'll tell someone a story of "summers in Texas were so fun!! One time...i was eating plums and getting squirted by my mom wickedly with a water hose...."

I couldn't help but be moved by this blessed moment and think: Well, ain't this plum nice?

Wishing you sugary summer child-laughter filled days,
WW