a flash back...thanks for the memories

I don't remember many things very well
so many times I wish I did...

maybe that's why I have always journaled?!?
   (and now blog)
   at least there's some record out there
   since it's not in here?!?!?
or
maybe I don't keep things in my head
because I've committed my memories to paper?!?!?
or
maybe I remember just like everyone else does...
here, there, selective...

but
one thing I remember very clearly

is this...

I don't have any photos of my memory of  'this'
which makes it kind of special in a way
because I know I remember it
and don't just remember the picture of it!

I remember when t-bird was about a year old
toddeling about
climbing
crawling
he would just 'attack' his bigger brothers and sister
wrestle them to the floor
the littlest of the kids
but he made his presence known
he wanted to play with them
he wanted to hug them
to be close to them
to be a part of them
of anything and everything that was going on
with them

I remember that about him
he'd go up and down the steps
sometimes following them
sometimes leading them!

and I never quite could understand how I allowed that
to happen?!?
he was just a baby!
but last week while I was with our little nieces and nephews
I had a flash back
I saw the reenactment of those days....
played out before my eyes

their little one year old
not yet walking
and yet she's
all over the place
and
all over her sisters and brothers
following them...
and they following her

and this moment struck me hard
and took me right back to twenty years ago
I'm so glad my camera was right there on the island
as they wrestled and hugged, giggled and wiggled
all over the dining room hardwood floor
  of all places

the baby just turned one
her brother is six
the exact ages of our oldest and youngest
when they were doing this exact thing

for some reason
I never captured our moments of these wild embraces
   to film
   probably because it was film
   and low light...

but I'm so glad I have the mental image
forever pressed into my heart's eye...

and I'm so glad that with this passing of time
and this next batch of little ones coming along
that I got to experience it once again
just as if it was the first time...

they have 5 children
ten and under
wow
we had 4 children 5 and under

so in watching this little interaction
with these loving little ones
I was thinking
this was my oldest and youngest...
this is what it looked like
plus two in the middle
(a 4 year old and a 2 year old)

they have one between these two
(a 3 year old)
...and two older
two to hold and fetch and watch...

it's amazing to think how they do it!?!?
and to realize we did it too...

this was the summer of 1991
tB being one...do was 6, coco was 4 and bim was 2