Step and Play

Don't freak out. That is not a picture of Brice. That is a happy child on the "step and play" activity station :)

So. Today was "clean out the garage and pretend to like it" day.

After rehearsal I stopped by Subway to get sandwiches for everyone. Mom is here this weekend for Brice's birthday party and I wanted to make lunch easy for everyone. So I am leaving Subway and I see a familiar object in the back of a pickup truck. It's Brice's old "step and play" piano station. No, it wasn't stollen. Billy had given a lot of the Brice's baby items to the Girl Scouts for their yard sale today. I was fine with that and thought I could handle it. WRONG.

I see the "step and play" in the back of the truck and think, "wow, it really is gone. No big deal, you are fine, just pull away from their vehicle." WRONG AGAIN. They were in front of me now, and they were going the same direction, same road, same "step and play" throwing memories at me all the way to the turn off for our house. As I followed that "step and play," I remembered all the fun Brice had playing in that little contraption and how he started moving to music more and more with that little education station. Then I was a blubbering mess.

Well, I get to the house, I walk in to my family who is wondering what terrible thing has happened because I am crying these crocodile tears. I explain how sad I am that one of Brice's cherished toys is flying down the highway and we will never see it again. My sweet husband says. "just think about the child who gets to learn and have fun with it now." I know. That is the "point." Who knows what the "step and play" will teach it's new owner ?!

Sometimes I try to hang on to "things" that I think will help me remember and hold on to the past, when in reality, I end up missing out on what's right in front of me.

Don't get me wrong. It's good to remember and cherish our past. It's also good to take advantage of the here and now. Tomorrow may never come, and this moment is all we have. I think I will "step and play" a little more today with someone special who's about to be 3!