Thursday, July 2, 2015

Children's Book Inspiration

It's so funny how inspiration comes at different times. Today, it came as I took my two boys on a walk in the stroller.


There's a feeling of utmost joy, utmost sweetness, that is so precious, so big, so ...hard to explain! But just watching their chubby little faces look at the world, pointing at things, reaching their hands out to feel the bushes as we walk by, their "oooh"s as I point out "our" baby bunny that lives in the front yard, or the squirrels jittering up the trees, or the deer we happened upon rounding a corner next to a grove of trees. Their collecting of rocks as we walk through the grass, the way they laugh and play together going down the slide. It makes my heart feel so big and full, that sometimes I think it could honestly burst. And when that happens, I know I have to write something. I have to record that sweetness, that magic that I feel.


During their nap, I wrote a little children's story, attempting to capture some of that magic from our walk today. Here's just a couple snipits:


...
Flowers, bushes, blossoms, vines,


                Oak trees, Beech trees, Birch trees, Pines.


                                Stick your hand out, feel the leaves


                                                Brissely! Prickley! Ticklely! Sneeze!


Mommy gives us each a stick.


Swish! Swipe! Poke! Flick!


                                Mommy stops, we all get out.


Run! Skip! Giggle! Shout!


Collecting speckley, freckley rocks.


Dirty faces, muddy socks.


                Grass is wet, puddles deep.


                                Splitter! Splash! Stomp! Leap!


...


Mommy tells us Quick! Come here!


Hush now, look, the woods, a deer!


Gentle, graceful, tip toes taking.


Quietly leaving, branches breaking.