Teach’em young
Saturday August 25th 2012, 10:36 pm
Filed under: Friends,Life

(Note on the kestrel: I have been told by a birder friend that my sweeping out where a mouse had set up shop on the patio is probably what attracted the kestrel; they tend to eat rodents more than small birds.)

———

She has that classic first-grader look with that missing front tooth.

Her mommy was in the freshman dorms with my daughter Sam.

Her daddy went to the med school that just happened to be where Sam’s lab was while she was doing her PhD–so Sam got to see her old dorm friend again while they were there. Cool.

And then they moved here. Small world.

Our friends Phyl and Lee invited a whole whack of people over this afternoon and evening to celebrate the end of summer at their condo’s pool and pool house. Pot luck, barbecue, swim if you want, come!

The sun was low, the fog was rolling in, the breeze was getting chilly, things were winding down, and–let’s call her Jane for now–Jane’s folks were laughing at themselves for what seemed cold to them now after two years here after having lived in Vermont for awhile.

Next thing, her daddy was walking with her to their car as we were coming up behind.

There was a big wide puddle on the concrete next to the pool where splashing and shivery dripping had happened. They were steering around it. Total waste of a good set of flipflops.

“California kids don’t get that you have to splash in puddles, puddles are for splashing in!” Drought year–when had any of those kids tonight last seen water on the ground? I totally jumped in, feet and cane and all, soaking the hem of my skirt; they laughed happily.

But she didn’t quite drag her daddy’s hand back over there to go do that too.

That gleam in her eye said, next time, though. There will be more puddles. Next time.


10 Comments so far
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Want video of you jumping in that puddle! 🙂

Comment by Kathy in San Jose 08.25.12 @ 11:33 pm

Ha! I’m glad you opened her eyes. And when we pass the puddle spot on our walk – where asphalt meets gravel – I won’t tug Sissy around them; we’ll all splash!

Comment by Channon 08.26.12 @ 5:46 am

Puddle jumpers unite!

Comment by Sherry in Idaho 08.26.12 @ 7:06 am

I remember the shocked expressions on my kids’ faces the first time I jumped in puddles and invited them to join me. After that rainstorms never kept us indoors unless there was lightning.

Comment by Jody 08.26.12 @ 8:22 am

love the thought of you jumping in puddles — sounds like a lot of fun!

Comment by Bev 08.26.12 @ 9:19 am

I’m with Kathy!
I must confess that I was never a puddle jumper, but it does sound like fun.

Comment by Don Meyer 08.26.12 @ 10:25 am

There’s a good lesson to pass on! lol

Very dry summer here as well, not that you could tell from the air being so humid again…

Comment by Suzanne from Montreal 08.26.12 @ 12:32 pm

I’m not necessarily a puddle jumper, but I’m definitely a leaf cruncher.

Comment by LauraN 08.26.12 @ 4:27 pm

Thanks for that – you just put a positive spin on the leaves that are already showing signs of changing, more than signs, actually, they ARE changing. Soon there will be piles of leaves to swish through. The change of seasons, even when summer leaves so quickly, is always fun.

Comment by twinsetellen 08.26.12 @ 6:16 pm

Oh yes! Puddle splashing need to be practiced. My brother taught me how to splash at it sideways, sending the spray to away from me. Mostly. But then we’d start puddle fights. And this way the era of bell-bottoms. We slapped and splashed long past the puddle!

Comment by DebbieR 08.26.12 @ 8:22 pm



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