What are you doing up there, Charlotte?"

"Oh, making something," she said. "Making something, as usual."

"Is it something for me?" asked Wilbur.

"No," said Charlotte. "It's something for me, for a change."

“Please tell me what it is," begged Wilbur.

I realized tonight that this version is abridged, as it didn’t contain my remembered description of Avery standing on his hands for the crowd’s attention.

"I'll tell you in the morning," she said. "When the first light comes into the sky and the sparrows stir and the cows rattle their chains, when the rooster crows and the stars fade, when early cars whisper along the highway, you look up here and I'll show you something. I will show you my masterpiece."

Caitlin giving Gwendolin a ride this weekend.

I regularly read to my kids in the evenings. It’s generally only been a few books and series over the years - The Chronicles of Narnia, The Wind in the Willows, Beatrix Potter’s stories, Dr. Seuss (if a kid is missing for some reason, I substitute something short and fun). I think this is our second time through Charlotte’s Web - it’s at least my fourth time through it. I know the story and even know the pictures that will be in the book at this point. However, I had no recollection of this particular scene and language that I read Friday night (above).

If you’re familiar with the plot line, this is when Charlotte has made all of the “miraculous” webs she will make, and is speaking of her egg sac - her children. Wilbur has no idea, of course, and no kid who didn’t know the story already would have any idea, either. So, my kids were perplexed when I was unable to go beyond the word, “…fade,” for probably fifteen seconds.

Honestly, that particular word, or pause in the sentence, doesn’t make sense as particularly emotional. At that stage, Charlotte is just poetically describing dawn. But, if you know the story, you know why she is describing it poetically. She isn’t just telling him about a time on the clock or calendar. She is telling him about the great reveal, the moment when she will show him, and the world, her greatest masterpiece.

Her children.

Garrick was pretty excited to show me these leaves today. May we recover such wonder.

I ended up having to stop twice more on the way to the end of that short paragraph. The kids, were, of course, oblivious. I mentioned tonight when we were getting ready to read something about getting all verklempt, and Griffin replied, “I don’t know what you are talking about.” So, I’m glad my excess of emotion didn’t ruin the experience for them :)

But, perhaps I never remembered this part because I had never had two children grown and outside the home, while in a demanding job and with peculiar challenges in and around the family system that I wouldn’t have truly predicted 18 months ago. Life has a way of helping you focus on what matters: and it’s not your net worth, your network, or your Insta follows. It’s your children, your masterpiece.

Look up here, and I’ll show you something.