Bath time for my two year old daughter. Soapy and slippery. Giggling, she splashes water on me. I’m in an old robe, no makeup, my hair in curlers. As I towel her dry, she puts her arms around me and says, “Mommy, you’re beautiful.”
Grandpa's grape arbor. A shaded retreat for reading, for playing with my dolls or jacks, for a game of checkers with my sister, for helping Grandma shuck peas or for just sitting and doing nothing. I don't remember thinking anything when sitting under the arbor or lying on the grass watching clouds or bugs. Just doing nothing was the activity.