Just for me

The other day I spent a nice crisp evening outdoors with my two daughters and friends and listened to the glorious music coming from the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.

The trees were swaying back and forth in the light breeze, hundreds of people gathered on the lawns and children played soccer and football in the background.

It was so peaceful. A great ending to a busy day.

But getting to that time and place in the day took a lot of begging from me.

I usually want my children to experience a variety of events happening throughout Weld County. I’ll take them to open houses, library events in other towns, small town festivals and street dances, dog shows and more during the summer.

When they were little, it was easier to get them to go. As they’ve grown, I find myself looking for, or in this case, begging, for them to join me.

After a few, "I don't want to go" looks from them, I backed away from the issue.

When I got home after 7:45 p.m. from an interview, I expected to pull up into the drive, pack my chair and a lawn blanket into the car and head out.

But in the drive, I was met by two of my girls who had a knapsack packed, mosquito spray and all, and adviced me to wait until they changed their shorts into pants.

As I sat under the evening sky relaxing, I watched the tree tops sway back and forth in the gently breeze while listening to the symphony. It was then that I realized this was probably going to be my last night out with my girls who wanted to come to an event.

Deep in my heart I knew they weren’t there for the experience, they were there just for me.