Precious memories

When my oldest was my only and our days were spent enjoying life's littlest pleasures, "Little People" were a huge part of my life.  We had only one car back then and Tim needed it for school and work so my daughter and I were often stuck at home.  We had no money to spare and I had few friends in the area, having only lived in Florida for a year or so. 

So my toddler aged daughter was my only companion.  And, I was hers.   Life could not have been more simple.  But, the two of us always found ways to entertain ourselves.  We would bake homemade bread from scratch once or twice a week, we would walk to the dollar store down the street and look at all the cheap junk (that we could still not really afford), I would fill a bucket with water and would sit out in front of our townhouse and watch my little one play in it- happily occupied for at least a half hour. 

But, my daughter's all time favorite way to spend the long lonely quiet afternoons was with her Fisher Price Little People.   All day long I would hear, "Mommy, play people" and since there was time to fill, I would almost always sit down next to her and the two of us would play pretend with her little plastic people and their amazingly detailed plastic homes and businesses. 

There were days the loneliness got to me and I longed for adult friendships but for the most part we were very happy- my daughter and I. 

Eventually I got more involved at church and I made lots of new adult friends.  My daughter went to pre-school and made a few wonderful friends of her own. 

Our family grew. Tim graduated from school. We got a second car.  Life moved on.  We are now so, so far from the simple days of my first-born's toddlerhood, but there is something so precious in those early memories of my mothering.   And that little window of time- when life truly was simple and my child was my whole world, will always be some of the best days of my life.