Letter to my Children: Hooray for the Jump Rope

“Four” Dragon stated.

“Yea, I keep stopping, I don’t know why.” Bean retorted.

“You jumped, but it got caught on the back of your leg… Wait, would you stop? I want to go and grab mine.” Dragon moved towards the stairs.

“Yours is the green one.” Bean called out. “It is like neon green, Dragon.”

“Dragon, I just did five… I almost did six!”

“Hold on Bean, wait till I come back up!”

We purchased the jump ropes in March of 2020. After the first flush of excitement the ropes stayed in the bottom of a drawer - until one recent morning.

After breakfast, Bean shared. “We did jump rope in gym and E did 150 in a row! Momma, where are the jump ropes?”

“Woah, that is a lot.” I paused. Do I ask how many she did? She has not touched a rope in years. Is this a teachable moment of competition and peer pressure? Or do I care because it is a perfect thing for the kiddos to do on a cold winter morning with our tall ceilings?

“The ropes are downstairs in one of the left-hand drawers. I want to say the bottom one.” It is good exercise, don’t overthink this Corinna.

The ropes went with us south when we visited family on a plane. Lightweight and flexible - perfect for a weekend of backpack packing. We went on many walks to admire the blooming daffodils.

You two skipped rope as we walked - it was delightful.

Bean, you perfected the slow motion walk skip - steady as a metronome. Dragon, you darted and sped and slowed.

“Momma, you count for me!”

“Momma, I made it to 163!”

“Dadda, I made it to 28!”

You two skipped rope throughout K’s retirement community - eliciting smiles and cheers from octogenarians whose jumping rope days are long gone.

Thank you both.