Time Warp

It’s 10:24 at my house on Tuesday night.  And it feels like old times.  The kids are in the family room singing songs in odd voices, changing up the words, maybe dancing a bit.  I am in the dining room, just listening and being thankful.  Thankful that my kids are hanging out together.  They could have all chosen to have gone their separate ways tonight.  They could be with old friends, boyfriends or video games, but they have chosen to be together singing show tunes and Jason Mraz.

When you read the ‘about me’ portion of this blog, blessed is a word I use.  And this is partly why.  Danny and I had three kids in four years, three months.  Danny was five when his sisters were born and my closest sister was four and a half when I was born.  We were a little more ambitious, or crazy.  Anyway, we wanted out family to be friends.  There were times when that wasn’t the case, but as everyone has grown, they have grown closer.  I envy the inside jokes, the secret language, the memorized songs.  I didn’t have nearly enough of that with my own siblings. 

Last night, the girls watched Sleeping Beauty.  The Swan Princess will probably be put into rotation before the week is over.  These are childhood moments that have stayed with them.  A shared love of blonde princess’s and strikingly handsome prince’s with excellent archery skills.

They have always laughed more then they have loathed.  They get on each other’s nerves, they pick fights, and they go off and pout.  But they are bound to each other.  There is this shared experience of making fun of Danny and me.  Supporting each other when the going got tough.  And in their lives, it has gotten tough a time or two.  They have been there for each other through deployments, sicknesses and deaths. 

I have three children who know all the words to “Time Warp” and they know most of the actions.  And they are doing the time warp again two rooms over.  Years from now, they will have this moment to fall back on.  If their friendship should falter, they will always have these times.  And years from now, at a Thanksgiving far in the future, this song just might get played.  Kitchen towels will be set aside, babies will be passed to grandpas and the wishbone will have to wait…because it’s a step to the left and then a jump to the right…