Ess at Halloween House
“Dada, the frog’s legs are stretched out really far! Is it OK?”
Ess and I were out in the yard, picking up birch sticks, enjoying that kind of convivial togetherness in doing a common chore. We weren’t playing a game, or pretending the sticks were giantess hair, or trying to wring anything in particular out of the moment: just being in the same place, in parallel.
Dear Essie,
You are one room over, humming a tune to yourself while you write a chapbook about mermaids using the stickers that Mama got you as illustrations. (I’m getting regular updates: it’s a great book.) I’m here in the next room watching the snow fall and ruminating about the world you’ll someday confront; all its inequities, violence, duplicity, rigged systems, cruelties. But those worries are not for you right now.
Ess was so excited for Halloween, she recorded two original songs and threw a spooky party for us on like October 1st. So you can imagine how happy she was when we made it to the actual day. She picked our costumes, Mykala found all the pieces for them. We got to return to trick-or-treating after taking 2020 off, and it was such fun. It is true you can’t go back, but it is peaceful and joyful and fulfilling to see it again through your child’s eyes.
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