Milestones with Meaning

It happened.  

The big thing I've been waiting for.  

Yesterday, the girls mowed the lawn.  Then, when they came inside, I ushered them back outside with their younger brother.  We walked around the yard, me guiding them and highlighting several projects that needed completing.  They asked some questions, and I explained what needed to be done, and then I walked back inside.  

An hour later, I heard music coming from the backyard.  My daughter is the main DJ for our house, since she is the one with the Spotify account.  It was some sort of Meghan Trainer + Taylor Swift playlist, which wasn't a surprise.  I sat there working on my laptop, thinking, "that's cool--they've found a way to make yardwork more enjoyable."  Awhile later, I heard "A Hard Day's Night", and "Eight Days a Week" and knew that my son had made his musical opinion known.  They continued to work on the yard while listening to music.  I kept working on my assignments, trying to stay focused, while occasionally slipping into absent-mindedly singing Beatles lyrics.  How can I not sing "Come on, come on, come on, baby now...Twist and Shout!"?  I kind of got lost in my work and forgot that the music was mainly to help my kids keep working.

Two hours later, I heard the kitchen door open and close.  10 seconds later, a petition from my daughter to "come and see".  And when I went outside, they were now guiding me through the yard, pointing out the place they had trimmed back the grass, pulled weeds, and cut back the vines that were taking over the wooden steps leading to our backyard.  They accomplished in 3 hours what would have taken me two days of work.  They're younger and faster and less prone to getting distracted.  And it was amazing to see and just feel that we were at a milestone.

I'm not a big one for classic milestones, like the first day of school.  Honestly, most years I'm pretty tired from the summer and so feel mostly relieved to get to the first day of school.  I take the obligatory pictures of course, but I don't cry when my kids go through the front door and leave me alone.  I usually go home and take a nap and do nothing for the day.  But there are other days without fanfare that are the real milestones for me.  Yesterday was one of them:  my kiddos working for 3 hours on their own.  They used pruning shears and didn't get injured (milestone!).  They put all the grass clippings, weeds, and pinecones in the garbage cans swept up the dust on the patio (milestone!).  They put away the lawnmower and gloves into the shed without me reminding them (milestone!).  There were no pictures, no applause, no big moment.  Except that it was the big moment.  It was the milestone to say, "they're growing up."  So, I'll keep it in my heart and memories and jot it down here to remember that perhaps the milestones without fanfare are the biggest milestones with meaning.