Yesterday

All my troubles seemed so far away
When I listened to my children play

Oh I believe in yesterday


Copacetic. Is that how you spell the word? Is that even the word?

When brightness and clarity are amplified in every otherwise normal, run-of-the-mill thing that happens. When sweetness and love exude from your children, causing you to forget they ever exude anything else. When, after sorting Legos for days, you can see the bottom of the gigantic tub.

Is that copacetic?

Yesterday, Sissy took on multiple digit multiplication . She did not “get it” right away, which is usually a red flag for imminent meltdown. Not so yesterday. Her attitude was wonderful. Bright and shiny all around.

Then I listened as the girls played some kind of pretend adventure in the next room. They were using clothesbaskets as boats and were “sailing” the boats through the house. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but it sounded like the waters were treacherous. Then, as they entered the room I was in, Peanut sighed in relief, and said :

“Now we’re in the Pacific Ocean. It’s much calmer here. That’s why we call it the Pacific Ocean. ‘Pacific’ means ‘calm’.


Right on cue, the sky opened up and a host of angels filled the air with song, while we were bathed in warm, radiant light from above.

Okay, maybe that part was only in my head.

But talk about making my heart swell. Nothing is sweeter to a homeschooling mother’s ears than to hear her children incorporate facts they’ve just learned, into their completely unscripted, unsupervised play.

We’re learning about the explorers. Columbus, Vespucci, Magellan. We had read how the Pacific Ocean was named.
It was sinking in !!!

“Hello”, said Captain Peanut, from her boat. “I’m an explorer”.

“Oh, hello”, I greeted her. “So… where are you from?”

“I’m from India”, she said. “I’m looking for a new land.”


Oh dear. The singing angels in my head disappeared.

But I gave her the benefit of the doubt.

In a pretend game, anything can happen.

Indian explorers? Why not? True, they live in the land of the coveted spices, to which for hundreds of years, Europeans have made the long, dangerous journey along the Silk Road. They could keep sitting back and taking it easy. But sometimes, you just get tired of waiting for other people to come to you. I can dig that.


Later the girls played “golf” outside. Sissy was Tiger Woods. Peanut was Zack Johnson. They played this for an hour. Golf. For an hour. Without coming in once or fighting. That’s when the surreal “bright, sunshiny day” feeling surfaced again.

After that, they cheerfully helped me sort Legos.

Then they helped me make barbecued chicken pizza for supper, each making herself an individual pizza. They were so thrilled at taking part in the process, I was struck with pangs of guilt for not getting them in on the cooking more often.

After they went to bed, Keith and I, weeding through some old VHS tapes, ran across an Eagles concert we had taped, oh about ten years ago.

We put it in and jammed just like old times. I sang background vocals. He said I was off-key. I said I was just switching back and forth between Henley’s part and Frey’s. He said, Oh is THAT what you’re doing. Just like old times.


You know, I wish God would grant me the power to adjust the speed of the earth’s rotation whenever I want. I wouldn’t abuse it, really I wouldn’t.

I would just slow it down for days like yesterday.