Something Extra

Photography Challenge No. 6 is: Hands.  The way in which we hold our hands at any given moment says a lot about what we are thinking or feeling, or both.  We might hold our hands close to us in a somewhat protective stance when meeting someone new.  We might put our hands in our pockets or bite our fingernails when we are nervous.  With family and friends our hands are often open as an invitation to conversation, or in motion for those of us who talk with our hands.  Jack was the perfect model for this challenge because even though his vocabulary seems to be growing in leaps and bounds by the minute, he still uses a lot of body language to communicate with us.  As usual, I wasn't able to narrow my selection down to just one photo. All of these were taken Sunday during a small family gathering to celebrate Nick's birthday.

The first two photos are of Jack playing "hot wheels" with his Aunt Gayle.  

The next photo is Jack using the iPad2.  I had to include this one just because anyone that sees him using the tablet comments on his proficiency. He loves Youtube and lately his videos of choice seem to be old Donald Duck cartoons. It is amazing how he can find these things even though he really can't read or spell at this point.

The last two photos are of Jack anxiously awaiting a piece of Nick's birthday cake. I considered cropping the first picture down to just Nick and Colin's hands but Jack's facial expression is priceless.  We had already sung "Happy Birthday" to Nick, and the candles had been blown out.  It was very hard for Jack to wait for Nick to open his presents to have a piece of that Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake.  Colin's hand is on Jack's as if to say, be patient, and don't touch that cake. I also like this picture because lately I have noticed a resemblence between Jack and Colin; its absolutely clear from this photo that they are cousins.

In the second picture Jack has his hands on his face as Tyler reads one of Nick's birthday cards out loud.  This is Jack showing restraint.  He is clearly frustrated, does not care what the card says and just wants to cut the cake already.  This is preschool anticipation at its finest. It looks like Kerrigan may be sharing some of Jack's thoughts.

In some ways, Jack was more excited about Nick's birthday than Nick.  Nick is happy that he is now able to get a permit and start to learn how to drive.  He is also happy about all of the very generous gifts he received.  At this point to Nick, the cake, the party, the candles are all routine traditions.  To Jack, those details are the most exciting parts.  Jack went shopping with me on Saturday to get all the supplies for the party.  It was very important to him to have the right candles.  They were the first things he picked out.  He insisted on holding them, but he got distracted and did not have them in his hands by the time we reached the cashier.  We put the groceries in the car and he insisted that we go back into the store and buy the right candles, in his mind, those were "Nick's candles."

Jack also helped me pick out Nick's cake.  When we got home from the store, Nick was at a friend's house and Jack was disappointed that he could not show Nick the supplies he helped gather. I left to pick up Nick and Bernie put Jack to bed.  When Jack woke up Sunday morning, his first question for me was, "did you get Nick?"  As if I would have forgotten and just left Nick somewhere.  As soon as Nick woke up, Jack had to show him the cake.  He wanted to eat it right then, at about 9am.  From that point forward, Jack could not wait until that afternoon when his cousins would arrive.  The questions kept coming: "are they here yet," "can we eat the cake?" If you want to make Jack smile at any given moment just tell him that he is going to get to see Colin, Tyler, and Kerrigan.  He absolutely adores them.

Anticipation of good things is a concept that is almost lost on adults.  Instead of looking forward to something, I tend to think about everything that needs to be done in order to make it happen.  I tend to overthink things and plan to the point that it almost isn't fun anymore.  I dread certain parts of it all.  If its a family vacation, I might dread the organization, packing, the idea of taking Jack on a plane, or getting through security with all his stuff.  If it is Christmas, I dread the shopping, wrapping, budgeting, cooking.  Even with the baby, I can't wait to hold her, but we are barely prepared, and I dread all of the work it is going to take to get ready.  It is hard enough to get a handle on our everyday lives and keep things running somewhat smoothly, throwing something extra in the mix often feels like it will only add to the chaos.

But... it is that "something extra" that makes all the everyday chaos worthwhile. "Something extra" is the reason we get out of bed in the morning.  It was watching Jack eat every last bit of his piece of ice cream cake.  It is listening to Jack reading the stories he's memorized at bedtime and adding his own embellishments. It was watching Nick say goodnight to his girlfriend after finally convincing her parents to let her to go the movies with him.  It was watching Nick give his all in wrestling this season despite the injuries and that fact that he didn't win a single match.  All of those intangibles add up to something greater than we could ever be by ourselves. 

Instead of facing the next obstacle with grown-up dread, I am going to try and soak up Jack's energy and enthusiasm and embrace the adventure with child-like anticipation that "something extra" will be waiting.