There are 152 flowers in front of our neighbour’s house.
At least, there were a week ago.
Ashleigh and I counted them. Every single one.
We also counted the petals. Not on each and every flower – my patience was present in record-breaking amounts that day, but even then it didn’t stretch that far. But we counted the petals of many of the flowers.
Many. Many many many many.
Ashleigh had stopped by the nature strip, enchanted by the flowers. She started counting them. Mitchell was sleeping in the pram, and although we had been walking to the park, we didn’t actually have anywhere to be, any appointments to keep, or anything that had to be done.
She started counting them. She started faltering at thirty, and I joined in. We counted 152. We no doubt missed some. We no doubt counted some twice. But we got to 152.
Then she wondered how many petals were on all of the flowers. We chose a few to count, and noticed that they had the same amount of petals. Eighteen on each flower.
She asked if they all had the same. I said I didn’t know. She started counting them all.
I pulled my phone out. I opened Google.
She kept counting.
I stopped. I closed Google. I put my phone away.
And I counted the petals with my daughter. Eighteen on each flower.
I don’t know if these flowers always have eighteen petals, or if we just flukily found only ones that did that day.
I don’t even know if they’re flowers, or if we sat next to the nature strip of our neighbour and counted the flowers and petals of what is considered to be a weed.
I don’t need to know. Ashleigh and I had a fabulous time. Mitchell woke soon thereafter, and Ashleigh told him all about the flowers, how many there were (“152, Mitchell! That’s older than mummy and daddy put together!”) and how many petals they seemed to have.
And the phone stayed away. Until, of course, Ashleigh helped me snap this pic so we could show daddy the flowers.
Sometimes technology brings you together.
Sometimes you have to disconnect to connect.
When was the last time you switched off Google and just counted? Or reasoned? Or guessed?
I have days where I am patient enough to answer every qustion or look at every single thing on a walk and other days where I pull my hair out. I try to not use technology when the kids are around but sometimes I break my own rules!!
The different days are hard, aren’t they? Some days I think I’m winning at mother of the year, then others I’m ready to scream at Every. Little. Thing. Consistency is king. Consistency is king. And repeat.
I try and be in the moment with the kids as often as I can. It’s not always easy when what I do involves so much connection via email, the net etc.. and when I love what I do, but the kids have to come first. Otherwise we can miss so much
The curse of working from home. You’re never really at work and you’re never really home.
I’m trying to do MUCH more of this Em – it really makes me happy when I spend hours outside with the boys just being! ( I also meant to say I’m not being rude in not replying to your LOVELY email you sent to my havealaughonme account, I barely check it cos I haven’t got it set up probably – you will get a lovely response soon I promise) Lovely post 🙂 Em
Got your email – thank you! I love just being with the kids. When I can switch off the brain.
The schedule in this house is hectic, so when I am with my boys, usually the phone is off ~ I have plenty of time away from them to be immersed in the online world. Love counting flowers and I love how each time there were 18 petals, there something in that ~ Josefa #teamIBOT
To be honest, it probably helped that the activity Ashleigh wanted to do was one for which I could sit! I wonder how my patience would have held up otherwise.
That’s a lot of counting. You must have been blessed with an extra portion of patience that particular morning to be able to enjoy that moment together with your girl. Beautiful post. I will repeat that phrase today: disconnect to connect. I like the sound of that.
Glad you like it! Thanks.
Beautiful wise words Emily. 🙂
I am trying to do this more and more with Lior, especially in our last weeks before baby arrives. This is a lovely reminder of how important it is, even when I’m not really feeling like it!
It’s one of those things that, even when you’re not feeling like it, you’re glad you did afterwards.
I’m turning off more. I’m losing that FOMO. It’s so awing seeing things through a childs eye, everything is a lesson and a new discovery!
It is! So much to learn in this big, wide world!
Brilliant post love the simplicity. I’m sure those flowers would always have18 petals, nature is like that very exact! But yes google can be great and a curse at the same time. It is nice to sit and just colour in between the lines or not
IBOT x
Google fills my head with so much stuff. It’s nice to remember that sometimes, we just don’t need to know the answers. I like your line about colouring in between the lines. Or not. LOVE.
A sweet thing to do together, Emily. One of those “just because we can” sort of moments that are glorious, really.
Personally, I rarely remember to take my phone anywhere so I’m very much an “in the moment” person. x
That’s the key. I need to just leave my phone at home. Switch it off.
Beautiful, Em. I’m doing this more and more. Enjoying losing my phone in the house, and really being with my girls. I have to say I salute your patience! Can you post me some?? I replied to this post yesterday, then the train ate my comment, then I swore at the train. And then? Remembered patience. 😉 x
Good remembering! Yeah, I can post you some. Hopefully it doesn’t get lost on the way… tell you what, using the post can make you lose patience pretty quickly!
They were definitely flowers, my nan always says a weed is just a flower in the wrong place 🙂
That’s lovely. Someone emailed me a similar quote when they saw this post: The difference between a weed and a flower is a judgement.