An Afternoon with Matt and David

My 11 year old neighbor David and his 12 year old cousin Matthew hung out with me this afternoon.

I was sitting on my garden patio, putting the bindings on my latest quilts. The boys saw my dog Lily peeking at them from the gazebo and came over for a visit. They wanted to know if my grass needed cutting, as we are their clients (The Lawn Guys - We are a cut above the rest!). Apparently they're going to get hats.

We talked about baseball, football, fishing, their camp on Manitoulin Island. They wore shorts, and showed me all the scars on their legs from various accidents. They talked about the times they broke bones, cut themselves accidently, got knocked out, etc. These are active kids who play many kinds of sports and have very busy lives. Matt will be playing football for the first time this August. He explained to me matter-of-factly that he expected to "get squashed" by the big boys, so it's a good thing he can run fast.

Then they excused themselves, went next door to David's house and brought back cold bottles of iced tea for all three of us.

Then they wanted to know what I was working on. They are well acquainted with my pattern design business, and love to see the quilts. David has shown up at our door in the past with other friends in tow, and asked if he could give them a tour of my studio and quilts. I have a project that will be published in the next issue of American Quilter magazine (Sep/Oct 2009 issue), and I've thanked David in that article for his advice. Well Matt loved the new quilts and had several suggestions for more in the series. He kept petting the quilts, so I asked him if his hands were clean. He looked at them carefully, and said "... yeah..."

Then they asked if I wanted some M&M's at the corner store. David knows my weakness. He buys me M&M's for Christmas. I sent them inside to get some money I'd left on the kitchen counter. They went to the store and came back with the goods.

Then they went inside to feed Lily her supper, and camped out in the spare room to watch cartoons until their adults came to take them golfing.

The author Tad Williams dedicates his book Shadowmarch to his children: "charming, funny little buggers that they are". I feel that way about these kids and am lucky to have spent an afternoon with Matt and David.