jumping for joy

A couple of afternoons ago, I was sitting on the deck stitching.

I was embroidering a kitchen towel to use as "wrapping" paper
for a birthday gift for a sweet daughter in law. Quietly, I was
stitching and our dog was laying in the cool grass. I was listening
to the neighbor kids. Obviously, they were jumping non stop on
their trampoline. Man, those would have been so GREAT back when
I was a kid. Get all that energy out so people would stop saying
"young ladies don't fidget". The neighbor kids use theirs all the time, I mean
all the time! One girl we call (secretly) "the little red haired girl" is
always smiling and bouncing and busy. Any way, I was listening to them
tell each other the ways of the world. Then they started singing "Ring Around the
Rosie" and then "A Tisket a Tasket and green and yellow basket"....
a few other melodies were shouted or sung. All while trying to catch their
breath. Laughing and giggling and gasping for air. It was a good sound.

Then I heard them shouting the "Pledge of Allegiance" while bouncing
up and down and up and down. Then they all just stopped and I am
guessing layed on their trampoline for a couple minutes of quiet time
and to think of more things to do on that summer day.

Kids sure know how to enjoy backyard playtime. Kids know how to
embrace life and all it's goodness. They love to play hard.
I want to capture that feeling and remember to play hard.

...just a gentle reminder that life is indeed good.