Millrace talks

I love to go walking along the millrace in our city with my kids.  I enjoy it the most when all three are with me, but today it was just me with our youngest son.  We saw seven robins (a first for us this spring), watched the ducks squabble, and commented on cute and not-so-cute dogs.  We talked about nothing of real importance, but it hit me at one point as we passed a group of older teenagers in a group, that the days of him wanting to walk with me instead of friends may be numbered.   I always cherish these walks anyway, but I will see them and other outings in a new light now.  As I walked on in the sunshine with him after that awareness struck, I smiled a little more and listened a little more closely to words that may have passed over me before.