I imagined lace, ruffles and frilly things.
I imagined pink.
I never imagined being asked to make up songs about race cars…crashing.
I imagined hair bows, dresses and patent leather shoes.
I imagined tea parties.
I never imagined using words like “coupling, shunting or buffers”…
Or knowing the name of every Thomas train…
Or the difference between a diesel streamliner and a diesel switcher.
I never imagined a backyard filled with wheelbarrows, trucks and bulldozers…
Or books filled with airplanes, demolition machines and spaceships…
Or shouts of “5-4-3-2-1…BLASTOFF!”
I never imagined loving little worn-out Chuck Taylor hightop sneakers…
Or camouflage cargo shorts..
Or ballcaps.
I never imagined waking up each morning to a kiss from tiny, sticky lips…
Or the joy at hearing the words “I Love You Mama”…
…35 times each day.
I never imagined being crowned princess…
…by a little boy…
…over bowls of rice krispies.
I know now I never imagined because of the impossibility of imagining perfection.
I never imagined coming home to Blue Balloons.
Now I can’t imagine anything else.
I can’t imagine that I ever imagined anything else.
