My husband is currently on 15 weeks of “parental leave.” (In Canada, mothers are entitled to 15 weeks of maternity leave. Then 35 weeks of parental leave is typically also taken by the mum, but it can be shared with the other parent, which is what we’ve chosen to do.)

We are about halfway through his break and just returned from a 2-week road trip visiting friends and family in the U.S. At the start of his break, we compiled many to-lists for his time off: projects, goals, things to do and places to visit in and around our city. So far, we’re doing pretty well on our list. But the end of his time off tugs at our contentment, pulling us toward some urgent desire to make every moment awesome and memorable.

At the beach in the Hamptons!

But life cannot be all Blockbuster moments. Some days we must rest and focus on maintenance–of our home, our health, our livelihoods. Yesterday we had to run some government office-type errands. After that, we went to the farmer’s market at a local park, as we do most Tuesday afternoons. Mike spent much of the time at the park immobile on a bench while baby Machrie slept against his chest. As I write that, it truly does sound lovely. But it’s easy to look on these moments as time wasted on the ordinary.

As we chatted after the kids were both asleep last night, Mike remarked that he had to calm his rushing mind and simply live in that moment. He held our sweet, sleeping boy, our daughter sang absently and joyfully while I pushed her on the swing. This life is beautiful. The discussion reminded me of a Rob Thomas song that’s featured in the Disney movie “Meet the Robinsons.” Linden watched this movie a lot last summer, while pregnant me would nap behind her on the couch. Just about every time I heard this song I’d get emotional, feeling the reality of its lyrics so intensely (and also because… pregnant).

Little Wonders by Rob Thomas

Let it go
Let it roll right off your shoulder
Don’t you know
The hardest part is over?
Let it in
Let your clarity define you
In the end
We will only just remember how it feels

Our lives are made
In these small hours
These little wonders
These twists and turns of fate
Time falls away
But these small hours
These small hours still remain

Let it slide
Let your troubles fall behind you
Let it shine
Until you feel it all around you
And I don’t mind
If it’s me you need to turn to
We’ll get by
It’s the heart that really matters in the end

Our lives are made
In these small hours
These little wonders
These twists and turns of fate
Time falls away
But these small hours
These small hours still remain

All of my regret
Will wash away some how
But I can not forget
The way I feel right now

In these small hours
These little wonders
These twists and turns of fate
These twists and turns of fate
Time falls away, but these small hours
These small hours, still remain
They still remain
These little wonders
These twists and turns of fate
Time falls away
But these small hours
These little wonders still remain

***

And it’s true, the Big Exciting Events tend to gobble time greedily–our vacation was a flash–whereas the normal days tick by slowly, as though we’re meant to savour these ones. Perhaps our perception does that for us intentionally, trying to show us that our lives really are all about these small hours of the ordinary–that is in these little moments that life truly exists.

Singing and Swinging!