Invisible Balloons

Paddy at our homeschool Halloween party last week -- Clare took the picture.

Yesterday's JV football game went well. It was a fine warm autumn day and our team played decisively. They won by a margin.

On the stands, Paddy pointed and tugged my arm and said "Look.... it's an invisible balloon!"

I looked where he was looking. Over the field, caught and illuminated by the stadium lights, was a gossamer strand. I think it was one of those long single-threaded spider webs that drift around until they find a place to settle. Paddy saw the strand and deduced his own explanation.

I still call him a "baby" sometimes since he is our youngest and I'm still catching up in time -- my pace of assimilating changes seems to have a 3-year lag to it -- but looking at him last night, I realized I have a young person on my hands.... a curious, sometimes sarcastic or demanding, questioning, thinking philosopher. A real person, with eternity ahead of him.

I am an older mom, 40 years older than this little son of mine, so my prayer is that I never get socaught up in the "dailiness" and middle-aged complacence of life that I forget the invisible balloon behind the floating strand.