Give Yourself to Love--Part 2

He knew a lot about nature. He'd been an Eagle Scout and a camp counselor for years. He loved being outdoors. He could make fires and tell when it was going to rain. He knew which plants were okay to touch, and which pebbles, when rubbed together, made clay paint for decorating little faces and bodies. Just has his wife had passed on a love of music to her children, He had shown them how to enjoy and respect nature. Their middle child, Molly, best understood this connection. He loved taking Molly on hikes with him and teaching her what he had so loved to be taught. They all enjoyed the outdoors to greater and lesser degrees, but Molly in particular, understood trees the way He did. She had her mother's nose--a funny, little button nose. But like her mother, He could tell she was going to be womanly in appearance. She was round, like six year-olds can be, but she had such a face. That was going to be an intelligent face, just like her mother's.

Molly headed the line with her father. He quizzed her over the different kinds of trees, and on special occasion, animal tracks. The eldest, Patrick, was in Boy Scouts, and although he was proficient enough, his true passion lay in reading. The seven year-old had read through both his parents' favorite series' as children. Now he was starting Harry Potter. He wanted to be sure he was reading everything correctly, so during the day at school, he would read three chapters, and then before bed  his mother read him those chapters again out of her copy, while he followed along. Sometimes he wrote his own stories, though he never told anyone about them, and he drew pictures from his favorite scenes in books. He kept these in a private journal and sketchbook. He was a sensitive boy.

They were a family of many talents. They were a family of love. He wouldn't have it any other way. He would not.

He carried Rose, who was feeling too tired to walk. Her three year-old legs were starting to hurt her. She tended to whine, but He often indulged her although his wife thought He spoiled her. "You have two capable legs, dear." she said to Rose. No one else seemed to care enough to try to convince him to put her down, though. So they marched on.

They stopped in a clearing to drink some water and rest. He needed to rest most as He'd carried Rose for most the hike. He laid on his back and looked up at the clouds. "They're like cotton balls glued with Elmer's onto a blue paper." said Patrick. He had laid down next to his father and snuggled up to his side. He ruffled Patrick's hair and said, "Just like that, buddy."

Molly was teaching Rose some schoolyard, hand-jive chant a little ways off, and his wife was... where has she gone to? This would be the second time this had happened. And leaving the car running? What's that? He listened to Patrick a little while longer while he described, in finite detail, his new favorite scene in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. (It changed weekly.) Then He put Molly to the task of entertaining the other two with *The Line Game, and left to find his wife.

And find her He did. She was a little ways off from the clearing, sitting on a stump. Her eyes were closed, but her body shook with the tears she did not shed. He did not run to her, but instead walked slowly, but deliberately so that she would hear his footsteps. He knelt beside her and pulled her head onto his chest. With his touch, she began to cry. Unsure of what to do, He said nothing, but supported her shaking frame.

"I was afraid this would happen," she cried. Her sobs broke His heart. She had not cried this way since Patrick had choked on a piece of fish bone two years ago.
"What, Sarah, what's happening?" He was desperate to make it stop. It was hurting him too. He loved her. But when she sensed that pain in someone else's voice, she held his face in a way her best friend often did to her growing up.
"I used to come here to cry, and when I'd start I couldn't stop. It seems not much has changed. I was just hoping it had." Her voice broke a little. He sat on the dirt and pulled her into his lap.
"It's so beautiful here, isn't it? But it's okay if we don't come back. I promise. I care more about you than this park. I just wish I knew what I could do to help." And with his words, she knew He was fishing. He wanted to know what was wrong, and she honestly believed it was with concerned, rather than curious, heart.
"Someday, someday I'll tell you everything. But for now I just want to get home. Will you drive?"
"Of course, darling." And they held hands and called their kids onward.

In the car, both she and the children fell asleep, and He was left driving alone. He played NPR for background noise, but He didn't really hear anything. His stomach was churning. He was a little scared that He wouldn't be able to handle whatever she wanted to tell him, and He would fail her somehow.

But He had built his family, with the help of his wife, on Love. And they both believed in Love. Really believed.

Love comes when you're ready

love comes when you're afraid.

It will be the greatest teacher,

the best friend you have made.

*Brain teaser that pissed me off for half a summer.