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Date: March 12, 2011
Time: 12:34 p.m.
Location: the backyard
Lucas: “Mommy, WHAT are you doing?”
(I should take a moment to add that this is one of the most used phrases in our household, second only to “Mommy, I’m hungry.”)
Me: “Taking a photograph of these little snowdrops that just bloomed.”
Lucas: “But you’re laying on the ground.”
Me: “Well, I AM good deal taller than these flowers…”
Lucas: “But you’re laying on a beach towel. On the ground. In the garden. And it’s winter.”
Me: “I didn’t want to get mud all over my clothes.”
Lucas: “Usually when you lay in the street to photograph things, you don’t use a towel.”
I wonder, just for a moment, if I’m causing any irreparable harm to my children by allowing them to witness the oddities of my creative process. Then, it occurs to me there are worse examples I could be setting. I did, after all, protect my clothing from the mud, so I should totally get points for that…right?
Worsdworth called the snowdrop a “venturous harbinger of Spring,” so even if it means laying in the garden (in winter, in the mud) to bring you this little piece of hope that winter is nearly complete, I’m happy to do it.