A day with my girl

We have started a new tradition in our home, each month one very special child gets to go on a date with mommy.  Yesterday, after weeks of anticipation and daily inquiring, it was Maryanna's turn.  

For our special day together I had arranged private horse back riding lessons.  This was Maryanna's first time leading a horse on her own and my first time on a horse in 18 years!  I would have gotten a better picture but we were both admittedly a little nervous.  

The instructor was trained in natural horsemanship, and sensing our nerves, he had us hold our arms out to the side while singing a gentle song, this to help us breath deeper into our seats and feel the rhythm of the gait.  We were to lead solely with the gentle pressure of our legs.  This was far from the tightness of the English method that I had learned so many years ago.    

Someday we'll have horses of our own, but not until we have several more lessons under our seats.  The instructor convinced me it would serve any young girl to learn to work with horses, for if they can command a 1,000 lb half wild animal they will be sure to have the strength to hold their boundaries with the young men who seek to date them.  I never thought of that - I like that.

Back in the car Maryanna told me it was the best day of her life, she continued even with a few tears and said she was so glad she chose me as a her mother.  I guess that's what happens when children get the special attention they need.

We finished with an ice cream cone and a 30 minute ride home filled with all sorts of chatter about horses.

It is easy to get lost in the business of taking care of children. For this reason I'm glad I chose to abandon a sink of dirty dishes and piles of unattended laundry, all to remember the joy of spending time with a child.

Just this morning I once again picked up Sharifa Oppenheimer's book Heaven on Earth and read this beautiful reminder:  

Looking inward, I find that when I give myself wholeheartedly, opening into the moment with curiosity and wonder, time elongates and I surrounded with the deliciousness of Now.  Those moments that I can approach with true gratitude and wonder live somehow in the realm of timelessness.  Perhaps gratitude is one of the doorways to Eternity.  Our young children still have one foot in the Eternal, in Heaven.  We can join them there, if we give ourselves enough time.