A Second Chance

One Friday morning, a couple of weeks ago, my kids were out of school for Veteran’s Day.  As I bustled around the house doing domestic things, I walked into the living room and saw my two girls curled up cozily on the couch together, each playing their DS Pokemon games.  Oh my heart.  <sigh>  My senior girl has had so little time to just “veg” lately…it was lovely to see her taking some time to do just that with her little sister, a fourth grader.  The oldest was sharing tips with the youngest on how to maneuver through the game as she herself was reliving a childhood memory of playing these DS games with her brother, who is closer to her age.  My first thought, upon seeing them thus, was to draw them.  But the press of whatever I was doing, quickly moved me on to other less satisfying things.

As the day wore on, I felt a sadness at not having captured that moment between my daughters.  It’s a familiar feeling.  For as much as I DO draw, so many moments in life do NOT get chronicled in my sketchbook, and I experience a lingering sadness.  Yes, I can photograph them, then maybe later draw from the photo.  Yes, I can attempt an “out of my head” drawing.  But what i really want is to sit IN THE MOMENT with them, and draw…soak up the moment as if my pen were a straw through which I extract all the sweetness.

I didn’t say any of this to anyone.  Just went to sleep that night wishing I had STOPPED doing whatever domestic chore I felt was more pressing, and spent the five or ten minutes to draw them playing Pokemon.  The next morning, a Saturday, I was once again bustling around when I happened upon the very same sight!!!  Both girls huddled together under crocheted blankets on the couch in the living room playing their DS games!  What joy! What wonder that I should be granted a SECOND CHANCE!  And by golly I wasn’t gonna be pushed around by domesticity this time! No sir! I dropped whatever I was doing, grabbed my pen and sketchbook and drank from that straw as much of the sweetness as I could.  It was wonderful.

And I was so grateful…for my daughters, for lessons learned, and for SECOND CHANCES!

0 thoughts on “A Second Chance

  1. Mary Walker says:

    They grow up so fast my oldest is going to be 17 this month and her two younger sisters are 1 and 3 just “babies” in her eyes with different interests so they rarely get special moments to spend with her. I’m glad you captured it. For us it is also the video games that bridge the age gaps. There is something good to be said about that.

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