Bubbles, Tickles and 2-Years-Old

"I'm not sleepy. I want to look at my flower."

"I know - I know, but you just go to sleep, and then you can dream about it, and it'll be a whole garden."

"It will?"

"Uh-huh."

It probably is a little ridiculous to be thinking of those movie lines, but they describe very well some of my silly thoughts over the weekend. I've asked myself more than once how old I am. 16? How about 2?

This weekend I had some new friends up at the house for grilled quesadillas, chips and a cheesecake that turned out amazingly, if I do say so myself. They have three kids: Abigail, Gideon and Lily ages almost 4, 2 and 2 months. Can't get any better than that.

So my driveway is covered with chalk drawings, bubbles blew all around the house, and I found lots of hiding places for hide-and-seek. The latter was Abigail's favorite. She wanted me to hide ten times and then she would hide ten times. I suggested three. "Okay," she said. But, of course, that was not long enough.

"Miss Melissa, how old are you?"

Ah, the innocence of a child - but what do I care about my age?

"31," I said.

"Then you can hide 31 times."

I leaned over to look into her beautiful blue eyes.

"What if I said I was 2?" I asked.

The look on her face spoke a thousand words. Mostly it said, "I know what a 2-year-old looks like, and you are most certainly not 2-years-old!"

After bubbles, chalk, balls, hide-and-seek and tag; we were all a bit exhausted. So, we went inside and sat in the living room. "Resting" did not last long...Abigail wanted to tickle and be tickled. Like most little girls, she is ticklish just about everywhere. She soon discovered that I am extremely ticklish on my feet. In fact, she almost got kicked in the face...but I guess her guardian angel got it somewhere in his stomach instead.

It was a wonderful weekend. Every house needs the sound of children in it. And maybe someday I will have that every day. For now I will take the brief moments God gives me and enjoy them to the fullest: bubbles, chalk, tickles and flowers that grow into gardens when I close my eyes to dream.