Rollerskating
Jessica is a writer and amateur photographer in Lincoln, Nebraska. She began writing after the birth of her second child when she found she needed an outlet for her creative energy. Soon after she began taking pictures, and since has used her blog as a "canvas" for pairing her unique photos with poetic writing. She finds inspiration for her writing through her husband and their two boys.
I get to this point in winter where I'm caving in on the inside with cravings to see big, fat, bare, baby feet. I want big, fat, bare, baby feet stomping on steamy cement and I want dirt under fingernails and I want sweaty upper lips and I want boredom. The hot boredom that only comes in July when it's too laboring to get up off the front porch and do something but also that is alright because the sun feels so good. And then at the end of the day, after the stomping and steamy cement, after the dirt and sweat, there are these bulging diapered bottoms sticking up from uncovered legs in the crib where an exhausted baby lays and drools and sleeps and dreams about another perfect day tomorrow.
I am caving in with these cravings.
But Saturday was one of our coldest days yet. Snowy with the kind of cold that prickles right down to each and every goosebump. We spent most of the morning huddled on the couch, avoiding looking outside wondering what to do with this day.
Passing the baby, passing glances, and letting the whole day potentially pass by.
But Bub was antsy and rolling with energy and we just had to do something other than dream about July. So I played the brave card and said we were going roller skating.
Somebody had to hold Teebs and somebody had to skate with Bub, and for some reason that brave card got bigger and I volunteered, without even flinching, to lace up my skates and go.
It started out slow, we gripped the wall and grappled with our slipping skates while kids either buzzed by us or fell in piles at our feet. We tripped over each other and dodged other people, but there we were, Bub holding onto me and me holding onto Bub and the way we were really relying on that hand hold to keep us safe was really, really heartwarming.
We only made it around the rink a few times, but still by the last time Bub was ready to drop our grip and race ahead of me to show Daddy what he can do. And that was even more heartwarming.
So Saturday, we conquered rollerskating. Bub and me, I swear, sometimes it feels like together we can conquer the world.
We conquered rollerskating, we conquered a cold winter day, and we conquered our Summer cravings. And it was a good day. It was, I know that for certain, especially when I hear nothing from the backseat on our way home so I turn around and see this:
Just silence after a good day.
(But under all of those layers there are big, fat, baby feet and in a few months they will be bare. And they will be stomping. And there will be steamy cement. Big, fat, bare, baby feet, I know they are under there.)
Read more from Jessica at bubandteebs.com
