Big Heart Moments

Winding down for the evening.

I love my family.  Those big heart moments come in the small times, like hearing B read to the family before the kids head off to bed.  We've been reading Man of the Family, the second in a series of books written by Ralph Moody.  This series and these times have been a joy to me for several reasons.

Before marrying B and moving to Cicero, my Grandma M gave the Moody series to H.  The books are labeled in her hand November 8, 1952.  (Her handwriting is some of the most beautiful I've ever seen.  A lost art.)  Since I get to spend more time reading with the kids during school than B, he likes to read to us at bedtime.  Our activities during the week sometimes keep us from reading every night, but we strive to keep this routine, not just for routine's sake, but because we all like curling up together and having this quiet end to our day.  As we listen, I imagine Grandma reading to her children as they lay in their beds in the big house on Walnut St.. 

The series is set in the early 1900's in Colorado.  Ralph, or Little Britches as he is affectionately referred to by most, is the same age as our children.  We are touched, sometimes surprised, confirmed and affirmed in our parenting, learning new ways from the past, and appreciating the simpler times and thoughts from that time period.  We find encouragement to spend more time playing and working together.  We have a drive to be more creative with our time.  We are learning to speak to each other with more positive words.  We are beginning to realize that slower is sometimes better.  We are learning to allow ourselves to be bored and have downtime as it ironically is a means for stimulation. 

Personally, I cherish the family time that I do not feel like I have to structure or keep a mother's eye open for discipline and lessons.  What a treasure I have in a husband who desires to spend time with his children and wife in this way.  It is pure pleasure to hear B read, see C stroke the soft corners of his blanket, be blessed by watching K crochet, and have H still play with my hair and draw my arm around him in a cuddle.  I see us having a bridge between the early parts of the 1900s and the 1950s.  I pray that one day, my Little Britches will spend time reading to their young brood at the end of the day and have their own big heart moments in the small times.