Our unplanned evening of fun

What a fun evening we had last night.  I wish I had thought ahead and invited a big crowd.  In the late afternoon, the kids asked about watching the meteor shower...  We' 'll see, was the reply.  What about a bonfire, they wondered, a little later...  So I swallowed my thoughts of, "What about bedtime?  Dad isn't home to help, yet... He has to work late tonight...  Don't you kids know it is FREEZING out there?  Some of you kids REALLY need to get to bed, you've been whining all afternoon..." and said " SURE, that is a great idea - pull out the chairs, bring up some really big pieces of wood - this is going to be so fun."  And it was.  It really, really was.

They built a rip roaring fire, we pulled up the chairs - they ended up laying in the backyard on the trampoline so the fire wouldn't hinder their view of the sky.  They brought out their pillows and some down blankets to keep warm. And we looked up into the sky at the awesome display of stars and ooohed and aaahed as the lights streaked across the sky.  The air was filled with "Did you see THAT one?" and "How many have YOU seen?" and songs, chatter and laughter.

And I wondered why I don't put aside my - Wow, that was a long day - let's get these kids to bed and have some quietness... and That sure sounds like a lot of work - let's not do that... and Can you imagine the mess that is going to make... (you get the idea) thoughts more often and just enjoy these young, energetic, enthusiastic, beautiful lives a little more - because these days are just flying by.

(And, don't get me wrong - I do really enjoy these young people - and we do have a lot of fun and laughs and time together - and I LOVE spending my days and evenings with them... but sometimes the extra things get turned down and sometimes they end up being the most fun.)