Towheaded Saggy Drawers bounded out of his tent at 6:30 a.m. with the energy that only 3-year olds wake up with.
I happened to be making a trek to the bathroom and witnessed his exit from the tent. Big Brother was not far behind.
His family had arrived late the night before, and Dad cooked dinner over the campfire at about 9:30 p.m. – when we were getting ready for bed. I noted that Saggy Drawers had endless energy for that late hour. He had probably been asleep in his car seat for hours, which didn’t bode well for the rest of his family’s sleep schedule that night.
I had a first-hand view of watching Saggy Drawers while snapping some pictures of the morning sunrise.
He reminded me so much of Jesse at that age as he happily occupied himself for an hour with what little boys find mesmerizing — throwing rocks. He chose his rocks from the gravel at his campsite, wound up, and launched them in all directions with the velocity — if not the accuracy— of a major league baseball pitcher.
Just Be a Kid
Dad soon popped out of the tent and began breakfast as Saggy Drawers ran around the camp.
His rock throwing went on without interference from Dad or Big Brother, who had a hiker hat just like his dad’s by the way, even though some of the rocks were perilously close to the car. Ahh. These were the laid-back type of parents, where not much throws them, who let their kids get dirty, messy, and just be a kid. I was thinking that Dad should maybe put a jacket on him as he was wearing only his saggy jammies and it was cold. Much to his dismay, about 10 minutes later Mom crawled out of the tent with his coat and the race was on. Saggy Drawers ran around the tent and into the as-tall-as-him weeds. He had far too important things to do to be bothered with getting stuffed into a coat.
Lest you think I was spying, well maybe a little, I was seeing myself and Mark and our kids 20-some years ago in this sweet family right In the messy midst of child rearing. And they were enjoying it.
A little later Mom corralled Saggy Drawers into a camp chair while she tied his shoes. Set free at last, he tipped it over on his way to the next adventure.
Mom walked over to Dad and he put his arm around her as they hugged and kissed and laughed.
In this moment at this place, all was perfect.
Kick up some dust!
