Sarah's Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Today, Sarah & I went for our first trip to the "Mommy & Me" playgroup! We met at the pumpkin patch in Gainesville about 25 miles from us. We had the best time. She got to play with lots of other little children her age and had a blast. I literally think that today was probably the most fun she's ever had on any day of her life! She rode the barrel cow train, climbed and conquered the 16 foot super slide, went through a hay bail maze, jumped on a rope and swung across "the ditch", rode on the zip line, went through the pumpkin patch, went on a hayride across a pasture full of donkeys and cows and even got to hand feed a real cow! She had a BLAST! And of course, I did too...just watching her see all of this and get so excited took me back again to when Jason was this age. THE BEST AGE!!!!! Everything is new and exciting. Every day, something new....something to be excited about! Something to call and tell her family on the phone and let them know what she did that day! I see her learning to see everything as she sees it for the first time. Learning not to be scared of an animal that is at least 50 times your size and could chomp your hand.....but feeding it and not knowing the difference. Climbing to the top of a ladder that seems to reach into the sky and not really knowing what's going to happen when she gets to the top; then seeing it only leads back to the ground and taking off and laughing all the way knowing she can just climb the slide again. How she can just jump on and grab a rope and hang on and swing with the wind. No matter where it goes, she's gonna hang on as tight as she can!

I see her and I think about how I should learn from her. How she believes that if mommy's head hurts, she can wave a sonic straw in the air while she's dressed in her tinkerbell dress and high heel shoes and I will feel "all better" because she is my fairy princess and she waved her wand at me and made me a "wish".

How if she thinks it to be true...it is. Nothing to be afraid of. No judgement of anyone. She will play with and laugh with whoever she meets.

After we returned to Sherman, we had a little time to kill and we went into a few stores. At one, there was an older man in front of us a bit and she just kept staring at him. She had seen him as we were walking around the store. I had seen him go into the restroom and then continue his shopping. He was a scraggly looking old man who looked like he could have been homeless or something like it. He was about 3 people ahead of us in the line. After he finished paying for his things...he turned around and saw Sarah staring at him. She waved. He walked over to her and told her how pretty she was and that she was a good little girl. She commenced into telling him ALLLLLLL about the pumpkin patch. Her eyes lit up like diamonds as she told him every single detail. And he stood and listened and smiled and talked to her. She had made a new friend. A friend that I probably wouldn't have "waved" at. I thought about how she made this man's day and probably made him feel so good and how it would have gone if she'd buried her head in my shirt when he smiled at her. How he may not have gotten to hear about the pumpkin patch or how much fun she had.

To wrap up the conversation........she asked him if he went to the POTTY! haha He was a bit hard of hearing......THANK GOD......and he said "Did you go to the Party?" He told her goodbye and left.

Sarah just looked at me and said "He DID go to the potty like a BIG BOY!" I laughed at her innocence. Her smile. Her excitement. So unaware of any barriers that people have between them. I learned from her today. Shouldn't we all strive to be a little more like that?

No walls....no pretences.........nothing......just a smile, a wave and a kind word!

Hope you all have a great day and enjoy the photos!

Love, Sharon