Sweetest Little Man

One of my favorite parts of very week day comes around 4:40. I get to go out front, leaving all the chaos of hungry kids and dinner prep behind me, and await the arrival of my eldest home from school. Somewhere within the next 10 minutes, the bus will arrive at the far end of the block. Brian, a very helpful 7th grader, will walk him across the street. They will begin racing each other towards our house, before Brian remembers to look up to see if I'm waiting. Brian will see me, give a arm's length wave, and send Caleb on down before he heads the other way to his house.

Then comes my favorite part. When Caleb is about 2 houses away, he begins to charge. Some days, he runs with joy. Some days he runs ready to knock me down. Either way, his little legs in dark blue pants pump up and down, and his light blue back pack swings from side to side until I catch him and we swing in a circle. Then he's off into the house to race to the bathroom and find out the status of his brothers and sister.

He looks so little when he charges like that. But that is the time, too, when I can see him so much older, ambling back toward home. I'm treasuring this time. It's a pretty sweet tradition.