Tuesday, October 10, 2006

don't be still, my heart

Today while playing outside my oldest ran over to me with an excited smile after doing several laps up and down the sidewalk. "My heart is beating!" she proclaimed and then she proceeded to stand still for a moment with a look of awe on her face as she listened to her heart pushing the blood through her body. Then she was off again, running back and forth, skipping here and there, until the inevitable; she fell and scraped up her knee and it was bleeding.

There are things that make our hearts beat, but in the beating of that small instrument, the percussion of our lives, is also the capacity, the inevitability really, that we will bleed. In the most literal sense, that's life.

A few things that make my heart beat:
Ben
Watching my girls dance, or just listening to them talk.
The monarch butterfly who has been gracing us with his presence when we're outside.
My little boy's smile when his sisters come to talk to him.
The fall leaves.
Cookie dough.
A good phone conversation or email.
Family karaoke at my parents' house.

6 comments:

  1. For some reason smells affect me (get my heart beating) limes, the air on dark summer nights, fresh raspberries, baby necks, Andrew's shirts, rosemary, salt water . . . I've heard your sense of smell is the most directly connected to the area of the brain controlling memory so maybe that's why.

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  2. It really is cool when as a kid the concept of the heartbeat kicks in. I'm glad she took the time to listen.

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  3. wow, here are things that make my heartbeat:

    feeling my little one kick me from inside

    the sound of the rain beating on the windows

    me neice's smile

    the sound of my hubby's voice

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  4. Beautiful post!

    One of my own: listening to Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man (full volume) in the car with the kids .

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  5. Somewhat timid to add a post since I am not married with kids, ha ha...but,the kareokee (sp?) made me smile and say 'we miss you' here in the autumn leaves of the rockie mountains

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  6. this is so sweet. I love your writing!

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