I am exhausted right now but simply had to write something to mark the day.
I had what was one the most wonderful and memorable moments yet with Ashiah today (apart from her first horseback riding experience a couple weeks ago) as she really discovered the Wakefield steam train today. We heard it coming from a distance and I drove her to the tracks so she could see it when it went by. Of course the Conductor waved at us and she was mesmerized.
For the rest of the day she spoke of nothing else but the train...incessantly! So much so that she insisted on seeing it again so I drove to the end of Chelsea to see if we could catch up with it but we just missed it again.
Fast forward to this evening as we happened to bring Greg his supper at the cabin where he was working hard on the bathroom floor. And in the distance we heard the dinner train. Ashiah and I went barreling down the stairs and she sat in my lap in the car as we drove round the bends to the track and waited for it.
All was still as the sun was setting and we could hear the frogs and crickets and birds and Ashiah was very still. All she kept saying was, "shhh, listen!" And we'd hear the train toot across the river - it was actually a way away yet and I found myself reverted back to a little girl as well; just as excited as my daughter that the train was coming any moment now. I had forgotten that wonderful feeling of anticipation of something and it's wonderful.
Ashiah was in my arms, her little arms clutched around my neck and her lips pursed in a silent "oh" sound as she saw the light appear in the distance. She then became nervous and thought we should go back to the car, "sit in car Mama" yet she was mesmerized and delighted when it caught up with us. She clutched me tightly and watched, fixated with delight.
I have not yet seen her so excited about anything and of the train we spoke all the way home. She kept interrupting me and saying "listen - listen?" "Twain all gone", "maybe in morning" 90,000 times.
It was just a very special moment and I'll never forget it for the rest of my life.
