siblings

Two pictures of amazing moments in my day lately. The first. C was teaching M how to swing the bat. He had a bucketful if wiffle balls at the ready and coached her through the bat holding and swing. At one point they both came running in after she had hit a ball to the end of the driveway (20 feet).  The second was this morning. Running late I went to wake the girls because I had not heard them yet. But they were sitting in the dark, B reading to M. Because we were running late, C was downstairs finishing packing the girls school bags with their lunches, water bottles and folders - unprompted and generously performed. He of course had his own motivation: he likes to get to school before the 8:25 bell rings so he can hang around outside with the other boys.

Now these are amazing moments - and why would I want to mar them with the truth that happened after? Well because that is life. It isn't all siblings-having-loving-moments 24/7. Isn't there a little social responsibility to report it as it is? Maybe, though it is a blog so I can write it however I want and gloss over it. But I won't. Soon after the picture was taken, W woke up. He was sleeping on the other side of the wall behind M. He heard all the missed balls bouncing off the wall behind her.  Oh well, I knew it was a possibility but didn't want to stop the coaching session. W was a grump the rest of the day. Then this morning after the book was put down, M broke down in a rage over navy blue tights. She felt she should wear B's tights to school. She did not want to wear white tights. Only B's navy blue ones.

In the end I think it is better to put the good stuff on paper. I suspect we forget both the good and bad (unless its really good or really bad). But even really good or really bad we may forget in time. So I'd rather page through my book in a year, five or ten and remember the good glimpses I had of the people these siblings were to become.