Ingredients for a perfect Saturday:

Posted on | May 5, 2007 |

Waking up to sunshine dappling our sheets and faces with zig-zag zebra stripes as it slips through the slats on our bedroom’s wooden shades, we stretch and lazily stumble out of bed. I haven’t slept in all week, and suddenly 7 a.m. seems decadent. Bean is big-eyed and delighted to find himself smack dab between Mommy and Daddy, and he starts the day as usual, with nonstop chatter. “Want to make a dort,” he says, not quite getting his ‘Fs’ yet. He slips down under the covers between DH an I, squealing with giggles when we reach for him.

At breakfast I read a New Yorker piece aloud and DH and both of us are laughing as he makes iced espresso in tall pint glasses. Then the boys head outside to mow the lawn. “It’s gonna be loud,” Bean says, his eyebrows furrowing. I hold him in my lap while DH pulls the cord and the lawnmower starts up with a purr. I can feel Bean’s body startle slightly, but then his boyish passion for all things motor takes over, and he scurries after DH as he makes looping arcs around the yard. The first mowing of the season. The grass smells sweet and sharp, and the sunlight prickles on my skin. Along the house, dandelions bloom in a row, weeds for sure, but both DH and I love their sunny lion’s manes, and so he doesn’t mow them down.

Then we head off to a Touch A Truck activity put on by Parks and Rec. Bean is in seventh heaven. Eighth. Ninth. He cannot believe his luck: they’re serving chocolate ice cream cones, AND he can climb on the diggers and investigate every button and knob in the cement mixer and fire truck. His grin is impossibly huge. We meet up with friends, and chat while our kids dance to the music booming from the local radio station that has set up in a corner of the parking lot under the pines. We try to wipe ice cream off of faces and fingers whenever we get a chance, but it’s a loosing battle. Bean clutches his too-big plastic construction hat, and murmurs about diggers all the way until nap time.

Nap time. DH leaves to help a friend, and Bean and I eat lunch and settle in together among down comforters and striped sheets. One of those dreamy, sweet, snuggled afternoon naps that stretch on and on. We’re drowsy and sleep for hours. HOURS. Three to be exact. Maybe more. Finally I roust myself from my stupor, and soon after Bean sits up tousle-headed and grinning. We fold laundry. Or rather I do, as Bean figures out the best possible angles for launching himself into the baskets of folded clothes.

Now I’m sitting with a stack of fig bars and an iced latte in my quite studio. Outside DH is mowing the back yard and Bean in his lady-bug boots and his safari hat, is causing certain mischief. I love the hum of the lawn mower, and the way the light looks out the window. The hills are finally soft now—the twiggy skeletons of branches hazy with delicate new green. Leaves just barely unfolding, clouds in perfect sheep like clumps across the wide blue sky. I’m heading out now to start in on a flower bed. Turning soil, and tossing rocks. Then dinner at a friend’s house: pizza, wine, letting the kids twirl. Such a good day.

How did you spend your Saturday?

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