“Daddy, it’s snowing! LET’S MAKE A SNOWMAN!!!”
These are the words I heard over and over Monday morning. I was hesitant to let the kids outside on their snow day because we had no power and it was COLD in our home. Finally, I gave in after hours and hours of begging. The kids ran outside and began to roll balls of snow into snowman pieces, that was until they were too heavy to pick up and build. And that is when they asked the question, “Dad, can you come help us build a snowman?”
And in that moment, I was a child again.
I can remember one time in my childhood that my dad came to visit, and in that memory there was a snowman–A great BIG snowman. I remember how excited we were to build it, and I remember how sad we were when neighborhood kids knocked it down. The snowman became a memory, kind of like my dad was every time he left.
And then Mark began rewriting my childhood memories, but this time, he stayed.
Mark went upstairs, layered on clothes, grabbed a pair of gloves and a hat, and headed outside to rewrite my childhood. He spent time helping the girls make their snowman. And not just any snowman–an Olaf snowman. And they played, and they laughed, and they came in for hot chocolate. And I realized in those moments that what I so desperately wanted as a kid he is choosing to fulfill for my girls. As I go through life with kids, I relate to them on my own personal level. With each age comes new memories but with one change, my little Kelly finds healing. I find hope.
You see, just because life was a certain way once, it doesn’t mean it will always be that way. I find that I live in fear of bottom falling out at all times. I see the things that fell apart once and believe that history will always repeat itself. But in this moment, I find today being rewritten. I see hope for my kids and know there are plenty of snowmen in their future because I am not married to a man like my dad, I am married to my husband. A man who spends every day loving my little Kelly and teaching me there is hope in the future.
There is HOPE, we just have to choose to see it and trust it is here to stay.