"A Whole Good Life"

Ande and I spent most of the afternoon at the park today. The park is right next to our church building and is in the neighborhood that I lived in until 4th grade. There is a beautiful greenway that winds through the woods behind all of the houses. A little bit of nature in the middle of the suburbs. I used to play in the woods there when I was little, jumping across the creeks and pretending I was being chased by some evil villain (my brother, the Raptor). Those were the days. As we were walking today, I was trying to remember what it was like to play "pretend." I used to do it A LOT. It was so exciting to be running through the forest, as a completely different person in an imaginary world. So, why don't I do that anymore, what happened to my brain to keep it from pretending? My friend Amy and I used to create these elaborate story lines with good guys and bad guys and castles and lava.

So as we were walking, all of these memories were playing back in my mind. I was telling Ande about the games we would play and I realized how much fun that was to be somebody else for a while. And then I thought, no one is around, maybe Ande and I could play a pretend game right now!

FALSE.

I don't know why, but we grow up and it suddenly feels ridiculous.
Oh to be a kid again. What fun, carefree lives they lead!

SO ANYWAYS, all this has gone through my head while we were walking on the greenway. Then Ande started to pant and get real excited I realized there was a dog prancing up the path. An elderly couple walked toward us with their little snowy white Schnauzer. Ande is obsessed with dogs (his first word) so we stopped to say hello. The lady was a little bonkers, but so nice. As we walked away she said "Have a whole good life!"
That just got me thinking about what a great life I really do have. Not just pieces of my life, but the WHOLE thing is great. I am so lucky. Here are just a couple reasons why:

(Flowers from Curtis, on the table when I got home from going to see Young Victoria with my mom. Thank you for the flowers babe, and thank you for watching Ande so I could see a girly movie!)

(Need I explain this one? This little guy right here is just sunshine in my pocket!)

(He and "Monkey" are best friends for life. I'm pretty sure he thinks Monkey is real.)