  Last night we decided to enjoy the extended daylight hour and John's renewed health (he says he caught a mean German flu abroad, he had the same cold I had last week.
Men. ) with a long walk to the bayou park along Memorial. When we arrived, we had the usual fun on the swings and then Aidan raced me up the big grass hills a few time. When I could take no more, I sent John in my stead. The boys disappeared over the top of the hill and Ellie soon tired of piling rocks so we set off in search of them. I found them on the terraced hillside we always used to teach Aidan climbing skills (before we realized he could already kick the rockwall's ass!). When I saw them, they were up higher on the hill and I was at the bottom by the banks of the Buffalo Bayou.
The sun was just above and behind them, and floating dandelion spawns drifted around them in this surreal, sparkling light. They waved and tumbled their ways toward me, and their laughter beat them to Ellie's and my ears in trickling little spurts. They were probably the most beautiful site I've ever seen. Ellie and I plopped ourselves down in the grassy hillside and began picking wild daisies. Aidan, with John in tow, could not be so easily tamed and flew by en route to his newest adventure.
As Ellie handed me each daisy she picked, I found my fingers responding to some latent genetic memory and within a few minutes, I'd tied her daisies together in my first ever daisychain! She kept picking them and I made her a crown of flowers. My recently stolen wedding jewelry came to mind, and it occurred to me that in lieu of handing it down to her, I'd love to make her wedding jewelry out of these woven flowers. In fact, I wish I'd used the flowers for my own wedding instead of the real jewelry, too! By the time John and Aidan came back I was ready to adorn them with necklaces and crowns of flowers and they wore them with joy and pride. I was so aware of the way our voices wove into the rushing water and even far away traffic sounds to make necklaces of the sounds of life that adorned us as the flowers did.
I felt so happy with my beautiful family showered in beautiful flowers. We pranced our way back home, attracting many strange glances--it's funny how bothered people get in the presence of flowers! John made a quick tofu, jalapeno, and cucumber dish, which we joined with beer. The kids wound down for the night and we got back to the taxes. And our beauty still lingered. 
