It's been a busy spring so far. Mason's dad, Corey, and I are planning to get married this August! I'm so excited! We're planning an outdoor country wedding at my grandma's place. It's my favorite place to be, 20 acres of trees, fields and hidden little springs surround her beautiful big yard and perfect little barn that my grandpa built when they first moved to the property 50+ years ago. All in all, to me, it's the perfect place to get married.
With that comes a lot of work.
The barn needs painted, an old shed needs cleaned out, taken apart and everything hauled to the dump. The yard needs some serious TLC, along with planting flowers and an endless list of other things to be done. There's so much to do that I decided to make a "task list" and each week assign myself a task to get done.
This week, paint the barn. Sunday my mom and grandma picked out the paint and got all the supplies together at her house. Then I decided that I would paint on Monday because it was going to be really warm and one of the only days without rain this week. While planning this paint day I was somewhat ignoring the fact I would have to get the barn painted with my little 2 year old helper Mason.
Monday morning as Mason slept in, I packed the truck full of extra clothes, toys, gluten free food, blankets, a pack n play, sunblock, the dog, and plenty of other things to make this day as easy as possible. Then I got a phone call from my dad. He didn't have to work that day and was headed up to Grandma's to help me paint! Thankful for that, I got Mason out of bed and we headed up the canyon.
When we got there Mason was really excited to see Great Grandma and my dad, "Papa". He was most excited to see the cows he had been talking about the entire drive there. After I slathered a thick layer of sunblock on Mason we headed out to the garden where I dumped all his toys out to play. This way I could lock him in the garden area with me while I painted the barn. Then I wouldn't have to worry about him getting into something dangerous or wondering off. I thought he would love this, he was outside, he could run, get dirty and basically do whatever he wanted. Turns out, this was the one day he didn't want to play outside. Less than an hour of being there he was totally done and ready to go into the house.
My grandma didn't mind being inside with him, so off they went. Now my grandma is wonderful but she is 89, and Mason is almost 2 and full of trouble. I was very worried about what he would do. Would he throw a car at her head? Or hit her, or something new that I'm not even thinking about. After about 30 minutes of pondering this while I painted, I told my dad I had to go check on them. He agreed it was a good idea, and with that I headed up to the house. As I opened the side door and snuck in I was shocked to see Mason playing nicely and quietly with blocks. Confused, I headed back outside before I was seen and the good behavior ruined. My grandma followed me out and said he was being really good and was just playing with the blocks. I informed her to come get me if things changed, and then headed back down to the barn for more painting.
Over the next couple of hours I would sneak into the house to see how he was doing. Each time I was pleasantly surprised to find him playing nicely. After lunch I tried to lay Mason down for a nap but he wash't going to sleep today. We still had a couple hours of work left and I was worried the good behavior was over now that he was tired. My grandma told me he would be fine, so my dad and I headed back out to finish up.
As we were painting, my dad and I had a lot of time to just talk to each other. He told me about his new job that he loved and how nice the guys all were. He told me about my late grandpa, (who is my mom's dad, but MY dad really looked up to him). He told me about all the things my grandpa could fix and make and do. As my brush painted over the same wood my grandpa had driven nails into so many years ago I couldn't help but feel grateful for this day. My dad and I rarely get to spend the day together talking, and Mason never spends time with just him and his great grandma.
With that, I decided I better go check on him again. This time as I walked quietly through the kitchen I didn't hear him talking or playing. I peeked around the corner into the living room to find him sitting with my grandma in her chair. She had him cradled like a baby and was rocking him. I couldn't believe it! Ever since he was a newborn he has hated to be cradled and rocked! He never lets me rock him and here he is being as sweet as can be while she rocks away with him!
I almost got a little mad for a minute, until I realized how dumb I was being. I headed back out without being seen by Mason and told my dad what I had witnessed. He was surprised too, and we were both grateful he was being so good and that we were almost done.
It was late afternoon by this point and we were both tired, hot and sweaty. As we cleaned up I stepped back to look at the freshly painted barn. It turned out perfect. What a wonderful day. So rarely do I slow down and take a look around at the things that matter. A day spent with my dad, working on grandma's place while Mason had the opportunity to just be with his great grandma. A day spent strengthening family relationships and creating memories. How silly was I to think I'd just be painting a barn...
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