Hi, I'm Charlotte and I'm guest blogging in this space for Meg while she prepares for Quilt Market this month. I feel honored to be writing here on this very page where our special friendship began. I started reading Meg's blog before Finn was even born and sometime during his early months I realized that Meg and I lived in the same town, with boys just a few months apart. So I wrote to her, and it felt something like writing to Punky Brewster when I was seven years old, only instead of a junky fan club postcard and Punky headshot, I got a playdate with Meg, the crafting and parenting rockstar. (Guess what? Despite being starstruck in the beginning, she's just like you and me!) We found some common ground. We got to know one another. Then we got pregnant at the same time again, this time with Lachlan and my little girl, Kenzie. We rode that rollercoaster together, and our bond strengthened.
Meg is one of my best friends, and when I thought of what I could say during my time in this space, I kept coming back to Meg herself. I hope to share the things I love about Meg with you, and give you a more intimate look at the woman behind the blog.
This week we headed to our favorite river spot together, me with my four kids and Meg with her two. We hope to make this a weekly adventure through the seasons and this week's visit didn't disappoint, with clouds and rain and sun all in the same visit! The rain didn't dampen our spirits and even made the views more beautiful.
I suppose to an untrained eye, nothing remarkable was happening. Kids played. Kids got wet. Boots got muddy. Insects and snails were captured. There were smiles (a lot) and tears (a few) and lots and lots of snacks for our busy adventurers.
It is easy to get caught up in the daily grind. We could spend that extra half hour cleaning house or doing one more work task or simply choose to stay inside on a slightly damp day to avoid the mess and fuss. But we wouldn't want that, now would we, Lachlan?
No. Because the outdoors has lessons to teach us. My own over-active brain slows down and breathes deeply. Questions bubble forth from my older ones with regularity - do trees have DNA? How do the leaves in the river affect the ecosystem? Did the rocks erode from rain or from the river when it was higher? They relax and open themselves fully to the experience, with creativity and problem solving blending into one seamless experience. And Kenzie? Well, she's been hesitant around steps lately. My house has six sets of steps inside (yes, six! they vary from 1-3 steps all the way to a full flight) and she was refusing to go up or down them, protesting to be helped each time, even transitioning from room to room. But outside?
Despite their size and irregularity, she conquered that fear. Thank you, nature! And thank you, Meg, for bringing this city-girl out into the wild every week and reminding me that we have so much to learn just by being present.
