“Yes.”
It was the only right answer to my daughter’s question on Halloween day about whether or not I’d like to watch Charlie Brown’s Great Pumpkin cartoon classic with her that evening. She mentioned eating pizza, too, to which I also consented. Some questions have only one right answer.
With the sky darkening, I heard her car door shut in my driveway and I got a little excited. I had gone to the store earlier to stock up on candy for any potential trick-or-treaters. As I’ve learned through the years, I only buy what I like. Chocolatey little bars with some form of crunch always fill my bowl. My baby girl walked into my house, scouted my candy selection and wasn’t disappointed. She sat down with her dopey dog as I took her pizza order and tapped some keys to secure it. We caught up on her week from our dueling recliners with blankets on our laps. And it was lovely.
We ate and drank sweet drinks and peeled wrappers from my candy stock. Our show played and we remembered. We watched the short cartoon, parroting the dialogue, while traveling back in time. As a little girl, she would lay with me on the couch with her purple blanket as we performed the annual ritual of Charlie Brown holiday shows. We carried on this tradition this year without the shared couch or purple blanket, but it felt largely the same. It’s nice when this happens. We got no rocks.
Reflecting on this sweet day and the many others preceding it, I feel pretty good. The opportunities to return to my small girl who knew her spot on my lap with her blanket are more spotty these days and the form has changed, but the feeling remains. For both of us. That’s probably why she asked me if I wanted to watch the show with her. It holds some value for her, too. We all might need a few moments, here and there, to sit and remember simple, sweet days with the people we shared them with. Sometimes we can and sometimes we can’t. But, we can remember and know what it feels like and this ain’t nothin’.
LIfe is full of many questions where the “yes” or “no” answer isn’t super-clear. Many variables can pull our attention away from a solid landing spot. We can brood and fret and evaluate and do mathy things trying to figure it out. Sometimes we get it right and sometimes we get it right enough. But, once in a while, the answer is clear and we return home with a full pillow case and no rocks. These are fine days and worth a sure “yes”. I like these ones.
Dave Markwell is a life-long Des Moines liver and lover. Former owner of Waterland CrossFit and the Waterland Arcade, Dave uses his unique story-telling voice to help small businesses tell a better story, and his love for people to help folks live bigger and better lives. For more info, check out his website: wordsbydave.net
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