Day 16: Daydreaming

 

This is one of my favorite photos of Simon. Perhaps, one of my favorite photos ever. A little boy in a field of clover, looking up at the clouds and dreaming. From the orange Crocs, to the T-shirt with Einstein sticking out his tongue, this image sums up our Simon, and Summer.

I think we are all longing for a bit of summer today. Because today, it is dark and cold with just enough snow to be annoying, and just enough work to be busy without attaining satisfaction.

We all endured our own little tempests today. Despite her inside-out PJ's, Olivia didn't get her snow day, and her disappointment was far stormier than the sky. Brian is thick in a fog, the culmination of a few sleepless nights' work on a presentation. Myself, I spent the day foraging through a paperwork blizzard, hunting for an 8-year-old business receipt (for reasons too irritating to reiterate here). I'm writing this post from a safe spot I've carved amidst the avalanche that landed on my desk.

We're mid-way through the casting, and mid-way through the winter. We're tired. We're cranky. Our mood is as dark as the January sky.

Except for Simon. At the moment, he is singing and laughing and looking for someone to play hide and seek with. He's making snow angels in my banks of paper debris.

Because today, Simon proved that he is smarter than we are. When he was tired, he slept. After a morning full of hard work, concentration, and things he didn't necessarily want to do; he fell asleep on the bus to school. And he stayed that way. Through work time, circle time, and all the other busy preschool program, he slept. He spent the afternoon dreaming because he needed to, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't feel that he missed a thing.

Perhaps, in the dead of winter, a little dreaming during the day is the best way to find that elusive bit of sun.