Happy Place

I love this picture we took last night, because it is where I want to be all the time. Work is so busy right now, and as my Dad would always say, "That's good! Better to be busy... makes the day go faster. Beats the alternative."

Busy, right now, is also about working nights, after TinyE goes to bed. After 10 hours at work yesterday, I left the office at 4pm to "get a break" before digging back in. (again, didn't quite work out. I chose sleep over work later that night.)

So the evening hours with TinyE were refreshing and breathtaking at the same time. Glorious simplicity, sitting on the floor and looking at blocks. Playing in the backyard and taking pictures in the sun. And then, we rounded out the night by sitting on the front steps of the house and creating a new pastime.

"Red car," I said, as a red car pulled up to the three-way stop on our corner.
"Grey truck. He made a full stop, thank you."
"Six trees in our front yard, do you see? One, two, three, four, five, six."
"Blue jeep."
"Mommy walking her baby in a stroller."
"Man jogging."
"Blue car."

Just a lazy, rolling narration about the cars, people, and birds sharing our corner of the world. Initially, it was my simple attempt to keep her happy and calm the last few minutes before bedtime. But it turned into a nice little moment. Her eyes followed the things that I pointed out to her, and she blinked slowly as she took it all in. She leaned against me in quiet contentment, the same way I was feeling.

I'm breaking from proposal writing to post this, because I wish I was back on the front step right now. That is today's happy place, and that is what I am grateful for. It's why I'm doing this work in the first place, I guess.