Soaring and Stillness: Life with the Chickadees

I'm linking up with Lisa-Jo for the last Five Minute Friday of 2012. Five minutes to write without editing, backtracking, overthinking...Five minutes of word freedom. Today's topic? Wonder. Ready. Set. GO! WONDER The season where everything is aglow...where eyes, big and small, are filled with wonder. Trees that fill busy city centers, movement everywhere. A small hand nestled in mine as we look at the twinkle and her sweet, soft voice fills the aisles of the hardware store. Wonder . In this most holy of seasons, I search for it. In her eyes, in the stories, the songs, the hymns and the carols, in His Word. I find it in the moments when I'm least expecting it. In the cherished books at bedtime she's pulling out to read maybe for the last season  and in the willowy figure that is turning from girl to young woman before my eyes. In the way he wakes and begins to try to rub the sore out of my stubborn hip and spine, even before he opens his eyes. Th

I sit here as the rain spatters the windshield, tucked in a fleece, dreaming of a warm fire at home. I'd know those legs anywhere, but I've never quite studied them as I'm doing now. Slender, tiny, able to reach great heights; feet that seem unnaturally flexible in form. Tonight, in the silence, I'm taken aback by how small they look next to everyone else's--black jazz pants in a sea of pink tights. Much like her wardrobe, those legs set her apart. How long has it been since I've simply watched her feet? Forced to see from a new perspective, I gain a sense of the reasons they peel, bruise, ache; with heels on releve, arches formed, toes perfectly pointed she puts them through their paces. I briefly catch a glimpse of a face in concentration as she stretches deeply. After almost eight straight hours she must be ready to finish. Never does she slow or falter,in each movement completed she offers nothing but precision. Her work ethic astounds me. A text com