It has been an extra fun treat that Shannon and I share a March birthday. So when we look back at when I was a little one, we can see Shannon repeating the milestones at similar times in the year. You know how we all have those stories from our childhood that were repeated so many times it is sorta of part of our identity? Well for me one of them was taking my first steps while at the Old Town Alexandria St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Mom and Dad have a pretty specific details about the day and we have some pictures that have followed me and helped to remind everyone of the milestone. So for Shannon’ first St. Patrick’s Day I wanted to do something special: recreate the scene.
Old Town has a lot of special meaning for me. From these first steps to the sweet time of life that Mom, Dad, me and our puppy dog Shannon were a smaller little family living life there. To a goal of moving back there in adulthood that Danny made happen when he found our first home together in that area. My grandfathers are both buried up the way just a bit in Arlington National Cemetery. And there are just so very many memories from times in this cute little area across the water from DC. It is a place I dreamed of having Shannon girl experience… but COVID life has made that a little different. So when the first St. Patricks’ Day rolled around with my little Irish girl, I thought an outing that was somewhat safe (no parades this year) would be to take a jaunt and get a picture of little miss in the same spot 35 years later.
Just as I shared with our Valentine’s celebrating…. my mom would make holidays such a blast to celebrate from decorations to waking up to little treats at the breakfast table or a special themed dinner. It reminds us that just a little effort can make even the smaller holidays more fun! So for this St. Paddy’s day we started with special pjs for the night before….
… and then enjoyed a slow and easy morning with homemade waffles. I took the day off of work to enjoy, even if the primary part of our fun was having no schedule and just being relaxed.
We then got ready and following a zoom doc appt for Danny loaded up in the car to go to Old Town.
Once there , we found it to be a little more crowded than expected … and this little COVID kiddo was so excited to just see other people – and bonus MANY of them were waking dog dogs- she tried to locate her most friendly smile.
Then it was photo time….. but getting to the exact spot was little challenging …..
So we opted for across the street that had no folks with the original site in the background.
And there we have it: St. Patrick’s Days just a short 35 years apart.
Life is on speed or auto pilot or a bizarre mix of both for us all. I swear, as much as I am overwhelmed by the to do list and often long days…. I blink and another week gone! Maybe it’s that… maybe it’s the blending of all our roles under one roof ALLLLLL THE TIME! But it is so easy to have days pass with limited times of just enjoying. Today, I wanted just to enjoy. We had pined for moments like this – with our girl- and although it still feels like we are not getting them, stopping in the middle of “best we can” to soak it all up an easily be skipped. But that was not today…. today was a good day!
Thank you so much for reading and remember to make it a great day!
Jackie
Have A Little Faith in We 