A Hat Story

Jared bought a hat. The days have come where a hat is important to shield an otherwise uncovered head. And he was ready to climb beyond the baseball cap theme of boyhood. He selected one…

Ta-Da!

But there’s more. He tossed a second hat, a clearance-priced one, into the cart. When it arrived, he told me to put it on. Then he said he liked it better on me than on himself, and that that was unfair. On one hand, it is unfair. I don’t need a hat the way he does, haven’t waited for one the way he has. On the other hand, it is automatically true that when I look good, he looks good. :)

A hattish couple

The end.

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Today is Bicycle Day

Today, my brother gave Noah a bicycle. Aaron knows how to pick a bike — I think I’ll require his input when it’s my turn to be in the market. This is a deluxe big-kid edition, a sure and permanent upgrade from the borrowed-with-training-wheels unit he’s been riding at a friend’s house.

Fitting and adjusting for height

Getting a feel for things…

Seven years old and lookin’ the part.

Picking up speed…

Hands-free!

Thank you, Uncle Aaron! The bike is ridiculously cool. Part of me can’t wait for Noah to develop his mastery; part of me knows that means a significant boost in miles-per-hour away from Mama, which has me suspect. (Now I see why little kids get cell phones.) Mostly, I’m excited. Because mostly, Noah’s excited! And because I don’t think there’s a better bike out there to learn and grow on, than the one Uncle Aaron chose.

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Nebraska Cousins

A few weeks ago, I road-tripped with my dad, Noah, and Braeden to Omaha. The last time I visited, I was seventeen years old! I’d met Kathleen then, the sweetheart of my cousin Jeremy. In 2003, two weeks after their wedding, they ventured to Houston for my wedding, to the husband who had been my sweetheart all that time also. Along with our parallel time-lines, we’ve had a sense we could easily build a friendship on common virtue and theme, if not for such a wide distance.

Well, here are some of what we have in common: three girls and two boys who have now finally met and become sure playmates. Jeremy and Kathleen have also two precious young boys of pre-yard-roaming age, so they’re not photographed in the play.

Noah and Uncle Aaron, having a Frisbee lesson.

Makin’ it look easy.

First kite experience, courtesy of Uncle Jeremy!

He’s my favorite boy-who’s-six.

I’m so curious: what do Monicas and Noahs talk about together?

Grace. This girl is full of life and feeling. She caught my heart.

Monica in bunny ears, giving lift to a kite. This is childhood.

Margaret. Margaret is beautiful…

…

… and Braeden is a champ of a chunka-munka.

Margaret was talking with her daddy while I stole these shots.

And with Braeden, who had climbed right into newly-introduced Jeremy’s lap.

Little children know intuitively who’s safe.

Last one. Thanks, Margaret! I was so happy to be taking these pictures of you!

This, of Grace, may be my favorite of the bunch.

Braeden on a broad lawn, in broad middle-America, under a broad blue sky —

with a fish kite. (His name means broad.)

The circumstance of our visit was rough: the girls had lost their grandfather, Jeremy his dad, Aunt Julie her husband. I, an uncle I rarely saw, but nonetheless was clearly influenced by. The visit proved to me how much. I remember watching Uncle Frank with Aunt Julie and their boys, and taking what I saw deep to heart. Now, I’m living as an adult, and I see the common link to what then were seedlings. I am tremendously grateful. Any time you can model hope, do it. Except, one can never set out with the intent to model hope. Effectively, it’s simply lived; and those who desire it can’t help but quickly notice.

I’m grateful to the Bowers family, to Uncle Frank and Aunt Julie and all I’ve seen stemming from their household. I am especially grateful to know three marvelous girls!

Two questions, both of which I bet I know the answer to:

1. How’s the wind in Nebraska? Is it kite-worthy?
2. Can we please come back?

And one shout-out: I love you, Grammy and Grandad! The boys and I absolutely loved staying with you. I hope it’s much sooner that I get to bring Jared along for a brush-up on our Sawyer-time.

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