A Day Like Today: Closer to nature

Today's guest post is by Richa of Clouds-Rain-And-Sunshine (read more about her below). Richa is mom to a two-year old son, who lives in Dubai. She has a talent for writing short stories, and cooking. In this post, she talks about a day in the park which turned out to be memorable for her.

The way some days start, you feel like it is going to be a really bad one! But then after that initial hitch, everything seems to work just fine. It is then that you feel amazed about how much better the day is turning out for you and how negatively you were about it!

Yesterday evening was one such day for me. As I put my son in his tricycle to leave for our evening trip to the park, he started crying for Doggo, his favourite stuffed toy. I tried to pacify him but he didn't listen. So I started scouting for his little Doggo and he stopped the crying only when I handed it to him. I took a deep breath and we left for the park. As soon as we got half way through, my sandals broke. Not wanting to return home to change my footwear I headed to the cobbler, waited there as it was being fixed while Little M tightly clutched onto his Doggo and looked on. We were just near the park when my sandals broke again! Fuming, I went back to the cobbler and told him to fix it again and do it well. By this time, Little M was running out of patience and started saying, ‘Mumma, let’s go to the park. Please. Please Mumma!’

I told him to sing a rhyme for his Doggo, quickly pushed the tricycle and we finally reached the park.
I took Little M to the toddler swing but he still wasn't ready to leave his Doggo back in the tricycle. I was amused to see this, as he has never shown so much attachment towards any of his toys. In fact, he hardly plays with stuffed toys and cars have always been his favourite.

Anyway, I let him sit in the swing with his Doggo and then he took him along on the slide as well. I was too tired to walk around the park so I decided to leave for home. Just as we were leaving, Little M saw many birds chirping about in the grass and wanted to get off of his tricycle. He loves chasing birds. As soon as we set foot on the grass, we spotted two hoopoes and Little M asked me their name. He started chasing after them and soon they flew away and disappeared. Then, a flock of sparrows caught his eye and he said, ‘See Mumma, pigeon!’ I corrected him, but he had already started running after them. When all the birds were gone he came back to me and said, ‘Mumma, I said wrong? Hearing this, I smiled that he had actually heard me earlier.

He then pointed towards a tree to touch a few branches that hung really low. Seeing the bright green leaves he asked me what they were and I told him. He wanted to hold them, but I told him not to pluck them from the tree. So instead of pulling the branches down, he pulled himself up a little. I truly felt happy to see that he was being so sensitive towards plants.

It was one magical day that I will remember for a long time. Little M got to meet so many birds and got a bit closer to the nature, while I learnt that I need to be positive instead of giving up or becoming negative because of a few problems. I was happy that we did make it to the park that day.

I was born and brought up in Delhi and moved with my husband to the UAE. When I was in high school, my first article was published in the supplement of an English daily. That was when I discovered that it is only through writing that I can keep my soul happy. I have done short stints as a correspondent and a content writer in the Indian media industry. Clouds-Rain-And-Sunshine is the space where I have been writing about my thoughts, views and things, people, and places that inspire me, my beautiful home, my adorable little baby, living as an expat in the UAE, and my life in general for the last five years.

(A Day Like Today is a guest post series about sharing memories of special times spent with kids. Here's how you can contribute to this series.)