Our Big Backyard

There is a sculpture-like trio of fountains that stand outside of the Admissions building at Lehigh. It sits on the edge of campus, along a road that we often drive on as we’re going on-and-off campus. Before we moved to Lehigh, I never really noticed it. But since moving, every time we drive by it Meera points it out. She gets excited to see it each and every time. And she always talks about how seeing it makes her wish she could “play in it,” “run in it,” and “put her hair under it.” I have been waiting for the right opportune moment, when we have the time, on a nice sunny day, to stop along our way and let her live out her wishes.

And for that reason, I’ve been keeping a towel in the back of my car.

This afternoon Meera was delighted when she realized I was turning left into the Admissions driveway. “Oh my gosh! Are we going to the fountains?!” “Yes!” I said. “Oh my gosh Mommy! Thank you!!!” She could not quite believe it as I pulled her out of her carseat and said, “GO FOR IT!!!”

And go for it she did.

It was the perfect way to spend a few minutes on September 11th 2012; a day that was eerily similar — in the crisp blue-ness of the sky, in the feeling of the air, in the temperature and weather — to September 11th 2001. To watch Meera in the fountains was a reminder to — for the millionth time today — count my many blessings. And count my many blessings I did.