She is 6 but she still runs and hides behind the cluster of our neighborhood mailboxes when her bus arrives every afternoon. She sees me standing there eagerly waiting for her without fail. She knows I’m watching her come down the steps and cut across to the mailboxes on the sidewalk and hide. She also knows that I will say, “I see you” and will run and hug her, and carry her school bag and lunch box. It’s a ritual we never miss. Even after an entire school year, I wait for this moment each day like it was the first and today I asked her if she was tired of doing this. Here is what she said: “Not yet mom. Don’t stop till I grow up.”
I don’t want to ask her why she likes this little hide and seek game. There are many emotions that are beyond explanation or logic and I like to leave them that way. Everything cannot have a black and white reason and should not for it would take away from the thrill and joy of the experience.
And so until she grows up, I will be there every week day afternoon to find her standing and giggling behind those mailboxes, waiting for her mommy to run to her, and while we both know we aren’t new to the game, there is a refreshing feeling each time she hides and I go seek her.