Silly String

Our friends gave us some silly string for our trip to Dallas. I guess they expected us to spray it all over the hotel room while we were swinging from the chandelier. We didn't. Jack saw it this evening and wanted to open it. At first I said, "No way. I am not opening that stuff right now." Usually when I say no to something I stick to my guns no matter how much he begs. But then I remembered a moment with my mom when I was about seven or eight.

Someone gave me some silly string and I so badly wanted to spray it in the house. My mom would not let me do it at first. Then she decided we would just spray a little bit. I think I sprayed some first on the wall or something. Then she took it from me and started spraying it EVERYWHERE! It was crazy. I will never forget it. She covered the ceiling fan with it....and then she turned it on so she could watch it fly all over the place. I just stood there with my mouth hanging open, stunned. Who was this woman? What had happened to my predictable, somewhat boring mom? Who had temporarily taken over her uptight, worried, stomach always in knots self? Once I got over the shock of the situation, I tried to get it back from her so I could spray some. She was like a mad woman. She used the entire can of silly string all over our living room.

For a moment, she was free. She was free of all the junk that always seemed to weigh so heavy on her mind. She lost herself in the moment with her kid. That will be a memory that I will always have of her.

So...I opened the silly string. I said, "Come on, Jack." And he smiled and said, "Thanks, mom." We went into the playroom (not the living room) and we both sprayed some silly string. We didn't use the whole can and I didn't spray it on the ceiling fan. But I think maybe for a few minutes, I was his hero. And it was cool. I'll clean it up later.

I'll need to hide the silly string so my mom doesn't see it next time she comes over to watch Jack. She might freak him out if she gets her hands on it.

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8