If you have been following me for a while, you are aware that my family has had its adventures with sunflowers. From our previous visits to our local sunflower fields, to our own backyard sunflower journey, we certainly aim to get our fill of these lovelies each summer. Some years prove to be more challenging than others with a Boy Scout that spends weeks camping in the summer, but we lucked out this year and were able to find a night that wasn't sweltering, raining, and everyone was home!
My boys can really take or leave the whole sunflower idea. They go along, they wonder for a little while, my husband even takes some killer selfies, but at the end of the day, my girl could wander and smell and notice all their little nuances for hours, while the boys have made their way back to the Jeep and wondering what ON EARTH we are still doing after 30 minutes.
The reality it, our girl is definitely more interested in the details of nature. She's is my Botanical Gardens buddy, my splash in the rain child, and the one who wants to see the details of the flowers the rest of the world wants to fly over with their drones. It may have a lot to do with that fact that after she was born, I started to slow down and take a closer look at what was around me.
The struggle every mom with a camera has is 1 - to make sure to participate in family things and 2 - to be in the photos as proof that we existed. I have gotten better at asking my husband or son to take my camera and take some shots of me while I play. I'm always grateful for the photos others take (big thanks to my son for these). I also started taking selfies a few years ago with my crew and I have gotten better and better at it and often love the outcome!
As the sun began to set, my boys headed back, but my girl was still so interested in exploring. She wanted to walk the path until it ended, but we soon realized we would likely be another 40 minutes and we were loosing light fast. As the sun dipped, I caught some Monarchs mating and watched as my girl ran and ran down the fields. I may have encouraged a few jumps after I saw her hair flying behind her. And it will be a while before I forget the breath in her voice when she saw the moon over my shoulder.
As I pulled this set together, I couldn't help but remanence on the years we've enjoyed the sunflowers, and how our time to do these sorts of things is having the sun set, just like this. And yet. Over our shoulders sits the moon, ready to take on a beautiful new part of journey. One, that if you are watching for it, just might take your breath away too.
Until next time,