We had the most wonderful time on Saturday at the fall carnival hosted by Samuel's old preschool. It is the largest annual fund-raiser for the nonprofit co-operative school. After months of planning and preparation, each attending family is required to spend the day working from sun-up to late evening to pull off this amazing endeavor. Granted, it is an enormous amount of work, but it is also an incredibly rewarding team building exercise, as well as a wonderful way to give back to the community. The teamwork that carnival requires is a large part of the foundation of family spirit that floats around contributing to the magic of that place.
This year, because none of our children are attending preschool, we were afforded the opportunity to enjoy all of the best parts of carnival without any of the hard work, and boy did we have a good time. It was warm and sunny. We enjoyed pony rides, giant inflatable slides and bouncers, the legendary cake walk, arts and crafts, cupcake decorating, and wonderful bluegrass music for dancing. Best of all, we had the chance to visit with old friends and families from years past. It was like a good old fashioned family reunion, with all the catching up and remarking how big the children have grown.
We stayed longer than originally planned. Around every corner there was another friendly face that needed to be embraced and visited with. While I tried my best to sit down often, to get this giant load off my feet, I think it was more than what I should have done and I'm sure it was a big contributor to the fact that I landed in the hospital on Sunday with preterm labor.
Worry not, thankfully everything is just fine now, but it was a reminder to myself that I need to be very cognizant to be kind to my body while it works so hard to carry this load and grow these babies. We have many weeks to go before the babes have a chance at a healthy entrance into the world. In the mean time, I'm afraid there may be many family, fall activities that will have to happen without me. A bumpy hay ride through the pumpkin patch is probably not in the cards for me right now. Long walks in the autumn woods are definitely out for me this year. The thought of these things happening without me makes me incredibly sad. Right now I am clinging to the fact that these fall things will happen again next year, and I will be there to enjoy every minute of it with all of my children.
