Traditions.

I was busy cleaning the house on Saturday. The usual dusting, washing clothes, vacuuming.. you get the picture. I finally sat down to eat a bite of lunch and relax when my phone beeped with that special noise that means a picture has downloaded from someone. I casually opened it expecting one of those crazy send to your friends thing...when I saw something that really touched my heart. Two somethings to be exact. Two orange pumpkins lit up across my phone. The caption underneath said, "we got pumpkins." Such a Saturday Evening Post moment. I blinked to make sure I was really seeing two pumpkins. My smile started growing as I remembered. Now, I will never say that my kids had a peaceful, perfect childhood, but....they did have wonderful heartfelt moments made possible with their fun seeking dad. The week before Halloween we always picked out our pumpkins. Bo's being the largest and so on. We would draw our faces out on notebook paper and then we would all struggle to carve them... with poppa bear Bo usually taking over with his strong hands to cut the specially thought out designs. It was sort of remarkable that my sophomore son at UT Knoxville was carrying on this familiar tradition with his sweet girlfriend, far from the beginnings on our front porch. This simple picture lifted my day of boring housework to a mother moment in time. I got busy again and once again my phone made the downloading sound. I opened my phone again to see a nicely carved pumpkin with the famous Majors' crooked smile started by their dad years ago. My oh my. Don't let anyone ever tell you that time spent with your children doing such simple, plain, activities doesn't matter. Don't let the rush of work, dinner, social schedules or just whatever...keep you from taking the time to make memories with your children. Because long after the snap shots of those earlier pumpkin days with seeds everywhere on my porch and their clothes....long after the goofy faces have been carved....long after time marches on to their college days several hours away...there is a place called the heart of a child. And in the heart of a child they remember the good far more than the bad. And they remember the endless search of their perfect pumpkin. And they remember how hard they worked to design their pumpkin. And they remember....even miles away...even in their apartment with no porch...even in the hustle and bustle of college life, papers due and tests looming. And they remember....that the stuff that makes life more enjoyable is sometimes as simple as an orange pumpkin with a crooked smile. And that....is what a tradition is all about. Weaving your family's tapestry of life with the many colors of memories....as my son says, "that's what makes a family beautiful." The color orange.