Knocking on the escape hatch

Sometimes it is the little things woven into the fabric of my day that create everlasting images. Today it was my sun splashed children scrambling on and off the dock that made stop and stare. Nothing earth shattering just the happy rhythm of their blond heads going up and down and leaning close together as Eli tried to teach his little four year old sister Teyauna how to balance on the red kayak.

Earlier in the morning it was Jaeden teaching Eli the tricks of the lagoon kayak as the two of them silently slipped under the middle of the catamaran and surprised me by knocking on the escape hatch which is located on the floor of the main saloon. I opened the hatch but they paddled away before I could splash or scold them. What a perfect excuse to clean the glass off and look into the green sea life below.

With Jaeden gone to the library to study and Dailin and Orin out taking sailing lessons on a smaller boat I had just the little ones to play with. Wearing life jackets I let them float around the boat. It did not take them long before they were on the other side of the dock and then under the little bridge. Soon Eli was lying on his back with his eyes closed while Teyauna was paddling him around like an all important sea captain.

Baby Zakary in his safety harness was delighted to be crawling around the decks with me keeping an eye on our two little mariners. All my boat work was forgotten and before long a marina visitor came around to watch the kids. This happens often. People are not sure if it is responsible to let the kids play in the water or on the boat but at the same time they are intrigued by our crew. Today a lady was admiring how well the kids were playing together and how happy they always seemed. She got to telling me about her one grand-daughter who was seven. This young lady comes from a privileged family with her daddy who is an attorney always working and a mother who is able to take her from activity to activity every day of the week. She has soccer practice and ballet and choir and art and tutoring and the list goes on. She said her grand-daughter is so busy she would never has time just to play around like these kids!!! I know well the temptation to give our kids EVERYTHING but at that moment I just felt insane joy not to be driving my kids anywhere. Even if it caused people to stop and point fingers I grinned seeing how content my nine year old was to let his little sister do all the work of transporting him over the sparkly water while he soaked up the winter sun.

Kirsten