1-1-11

Tonight, Matt, the boys and I were entertaining ourselves with Rock Band when we came across the song "This One's For the Girls" by Martina Mcbride. I've heard it before, during my Tennessee country music years, so I rocked it. One phrase of the song caught my attention and stuck with me long after my pretend fans on the TV stopped cheering:

"This is for all you girls about forty-two
Tossing pennies into the Fountain of Youth
Every laugh, laugh line on your face
Made you who you are today"

I hope that when I'm 42 I have serious laugh lines. I hope that I smile so much throughout my life that joy is etched into my old flappy skin. I hope that I have those lines around my eyes too, the ones that you get from squinting. Those will be from all the days I spent outside in the sun, playing, discovering, traveling, watching my kids play the sport of the season. Achy back, knees, and shoulders would be OK too, as long as it is a reminder of the babies I carried, the hills I climbed and streets I travelled on, and the times that I bent down to get a little closer to my boys.

I hope the same for my boys: laugh lines and wrinkles.
I hope that they will get bruises and scrapes because they played so hard that they fell down. I hope that they have some scars with great stories to go with them. I hope that they get a runny nose and cough because they were outside playing in the snow. I hope that they get grass stains on their knees, and holes in their shoes. I hope they pick up their laundry, put the toilet seat down, and never whine again about what's for dinner - but that is a different country song.

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