Hide-n-Seek

I'm sick and tired of seeing doctors. Really. I'm tired of waiting rooms and being told to be patient and take it easy and let myself recover. It's been 5 weeks already for goodness sake! I don't want to be told it will take 14 to 16 more weeks, or even a few more weeks. I don't want to be told to stay off the stairs and stay on the couch or my bed. Who wants to spend their time laying around all the time!?!

And I was dreading this morning's appointment, too.

But then, as we sat and waited, I watched this dark haired little girl with an orange balloon playing in a little cubby while her mommy waited to see the doctor. She was so cute; about three. And then, another mommy showed up with a little red haired girl about the same age. And the dark haired cutie asked,

"You wanna pway wif me?"

And the red haired girl says,

"Yeah!"

I sat there and chuckled at their three year old conversation. It's been a long time since I've had one that young! And then, the dark haired girls asked,

"Do you wanna pway hide en seek?"

"Yeah!" was the reply.

So the dark haired girl had the red haired girl count. And she was so cute, with her head against the wall, counting in her little girl voice while the dark haired girl raced across the waiting room with her orange balloon!

And I was reminded of times when my own children hid.

I remember when my oldest, now 22, was about the same age. Grandma was watching him and she called me in a panic one day. She had looked everywhere for him and couldn't find him anywhere. This went on forever; until she discovered him hiding under the organ bench, giggling while she frantically searched for him.

Or when my youngest, not even two, was our little Houdini. One day we were all sitting in the living room watching TV. On my way into the kitchen, I asked them all not to let her out of their sight. When I walked back into the living room, she was gone. Just…like…that.

No one had seen her move. We searched the house; searched outside. Searched the garage. We searched up and down the streets. And just when we frantically ran inside to call 911, I happened to catch a glimpse of her little lime green outfit. Behind her doll stroller. She was all tucked up under; watching; giggling. Hiding.

Or B-boo. Who was a climber. So much so, that at 10 months, we had to zip her into her crib. You can read about that here. Anyway, by the time she was about 18 months, she could climb anything. And I mean anything! I'd find her *hiding* on top of our 8 ft tall entertainment center! One day, I found her hiding on top of the refrigerator. She wasn't so much about hiding, I think, as about climbing. Until she could climb no more. We couldn't let her out of our sight, because we never knew where we'd find her!

And then there was the Smart One. He didn't do a lot of *physical* hiding, but he loved to hide under bowls. As in if he wasn't wearing them as a hat, he'd hide his face under them. Under blankets. He thought he was so cute. (So did we!)

And the Talented One. I remember him hiding his face in his hands, knowing that if he couldn't see us, we couldn't see him. We'd laugh and go along with it.

So, I guess the waiting room wasn't so bad today. I had the privilege of being taken back in time; somehow how finding those memories that had been hidden up until this morning.