I was able to experience a sweet & delightful time with my little ones tonight, but mostly my eldest little Bubbs. He’s 3 & has been quite the challenge to his father & I for nearly a year now. But our walk together tonight reminded me once again that there there are very few things that last forever. The rest will eventually fade, change, evolve, grow. And that’s what I saw in Bubbs tonight.

My Bubbs absolutely loves Christmas lights. LOVES them. Hubbs takes him for a walk nearly every night & those lights never get old to my boy. It amazes me that it could be 30 degrees out & he blazes out the front door, eager to see the reindeer, the “blow ups” as he likes to call them, the Santas & snowmen. It’s all fresh & new to him each time he walks the neighborhood & he tells me of all the wonderful sights he saw as we have dinner together.

Our town has a number of historic neighborhoods & some friends of ours happen to live in one such neighborhood. Beautiful homes built some 75 to 100 years ago, with wide sidewalks, lots of tree-lined paths & some of the most quaint & beautiful decorations displayed during the holidays. One of the town traditions is for these neighborhoods to display luminaries; white paper sacks with sand & a lit candle in them. They are set along the sidewalks & then people take a luminary walk as the night sets in.

Tonight the sky was overcast, bringing a light rain just before dusk. The air was clean & cool & you could hear the echoes of children shrieking & neighbors conversing along the paths. Some had firebowls lit on their front lawns; I would presume to have a nice fireside chat over roasted marshmallows or some such. Others had small tables set up with hot chocolate & apple cider for the little ones.

But above all of those wonderful sights, smells & sounds was the delight I took in my child as he walked hand-in-hand with me, or running ahead but not too far, pointing out all the beautiful Christmas lights, reindeers & Santas, and even riding on my shoulders when his little legs just tired altogether at the night’s festivities. His brother rode in the stroller, asleep about half-way through. I was so thankful we could enjoy the experience without having to go through time after time of discipline & frustration, as I nearly expected would be the case.

My Bubbs has grown in ways I honestly thought would never happen. And I’m so thankful that almost nothing lasts forever; the challenging times will come again & again, as well as fade away again & again.

For now, I’ll enjoy the memory of tonight’s luminary walk & when the next challenging phase hits I’ll try to remember that a time of delight is eventually around the corner.

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