Catch

The birds have never stopped singing today. They are singing so loudly now and it's nearly nine pm and they were trilling away this afternoon when I sat in exactly the same spot as I'm sat in now and watched the boys play.

It had been a lazy old Sunday,for some of us anyway. The MotoGp was on the television and nobody was moving much. For hours the boys watched the bikes race around the track and then when it had finished they decided to have a kick around.

There is not much width on our patio but it is long. It has a washing line running down the middle of it. Does this encumber the boys? Maybe. But it also adds to the game. They aim the ball over the washing line and most of the time this works,sometimes the ball falls short and gets tangled up in the washing,my black cardi seemed to fall victim to the ball today but hey I'm not too bothered,I love clean neat washing but I love my boys more.

And so the balls,there were two balls being thrown at the same time,went backwards and forwards over the washing line,making that rhythmic sound of a heavy ball hitting concrete...again and again and again. And feet,in just socks,padded up and down the patio wearing their socks out and causing their feet to be absolutely ditched and feet without even socks on found out the difference between shade and no shade!

And the balls carried on being thrown .

"I almost catched it Mam"

"Did you see how good Iam Mam?"

"Sorry Mam," said with a giggle after it had hit me on the head!

I was sat in the firing line and they or should I say one of them was throwing those balls hard. Of course he said he wasn't throwing them too hard. The sound they made when they hit the fence and ground told a different story.

They were having such fun though. And moments like this always stop me in my tracks. Just a game of catch,on a patio,nothing special and yet ever so special. The looks on their faces. The playfulness of them. The giggles when I got hit by the flipping ball - like I didn't know that was going to happen... It all made for a time for me to stop and focus on these boys of mine and I did.

And now as I fold the deckchairs up and start to head indoors I glance down and there are the balls just lying on the patio,quiet and still,what a difference to this afternoons activity,that's the beauty of kids...they make everything come alive.