Morning
“Princess! Listen to my words! You stay by me. I will betect [protect] you in the Land of Car! I am a warrior,” Asher explained as we wandered down the road early in the morning, heading generally in the direction of preschool.
We fought a dragon on the way. “Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting! Shink!” I’m sure I saw the tree stump cower.
We found some interesting things to look at: some pretty leaves, some goopy, leaf-choked puddles. Some lawns are covered in stars of all colors.
A car almost squished us. “Look out, Princess! It’s very dangerous!”
Having a warrior along while walking through the neighborhood can be a big help. It can also be somewhat … hair-raising. Warriors who are “7 years old” (really 3.75) are erratic at the best of times. Sometimes they dawdle, examining every stick along the way. Sometimes they rush haphazardly—forward, or even sideways. Sideways makes me nervous in the morning school drop-off traffic—the Land of Car.
“Princess! This is a magic puddle! I have to walk in it. How ’bout you be my mama duck Princess and I be your baby duck warrior?”
We walked a little closer to school. We balanced on white painted curbs. We watched the squirrels and the birds.
“Mama, I’m a betective. That means I’m in charge and I betect people. I train good dragons and kill only bad dragons. I ride on a dragon!”
We passed moms and dads hurrying their kids to the local school. Some of them smile at us.
“Mom, I’m gonna teach you how to run fast.” Perhaps we would get there faster if we ran, but honestly I would miss the meandering. I see and hear more when we go slowly.
December 8, 2010 at 6:17 am
A wonderful, wonderful story.
I certainly wouldn’t want to get there any faster than that.
December 9, 2010 at 10:33 am
Stephanie, thank you. Asher is really good at getting me to slow down, and I’m so grateful.