Playing in Dirt

Over the weekend we spent the afternoon at my parents farm.  They have 3 new baby goats who are both adorable and hysterical.  The girls went right in the fenced in paddock and stayed there for hours.  Chasing the goats. Picking them up.  Climbing on the makeshift 'mountain" area.  They were filthy at the end of the day.  Exhausted.

I stood at the kitchen window smiling.  There was no computer.  No DS.  No tv.  No MP3 Players or iPods.  Yet they were having a ball.  They took rides in the golf cart, fed the new pigs and the horse. Did kid stuff.  There was no whining about whose turn it was.  No one touched anyone.  They played together and get this: enjoyed being together.  How's that for crazy?

Our normal days consist of a whole lot of she's touching me, she called me (fill in the blank), he used my blah blah, she isn't sharing the whatever.  So this camaraderie was a breath of fresh air.  I gulped in a deep breathe of it and held it for a while.  It even came home with us (for a little while).  No one threw an elbow at the sink brushing teeth.  They went to bed.  They slept.  Good times.

I realized how glad I am that I grew up that way.  I hope I am able to recreate that kind of childhood for my own kids.  One that involves being outside.  Playing in dirt.  Eating vegetables that come right from the vine.  Worms.  Making forts in the woods.  The stuff that kids do so much less of these days.  It will require more laundry on my part.  Chasing the smallest one all over 12 acres.  Keeping people at the front end of the horse.  More work.  But work that will bear fruit.  Grow people who are an asset to the world and not a burden. Sometimes hard work pays off. Actually, hard work always pays off.  Even if you don't get the desired outcome you worked hard.  That in and of itself is a win.