This past weekend I had the joy of hanging out with my nieces....It was hot and muggy and Juliette was rather determined to run through the sprinkler (the pool is not up and running yet, otherwise I suspect she would have dove right in).
She began-predictably- by running close enough to get a few drops of water on her legs and then dashing quickly away exclaiming "It's cold Mommy!" After a few minutes of this, and some verbal encouragement from the onlookers, she finally decided to dash all the way through the sprinkler. At first she held tightly to my sister's hand, and always made sure that my sister was closer to the sprinkler. Finally, she was courageous enough, or wet enough, to run through on her own and even reached a point where she would run up to the sprinkler, pause with her hands outstretched to catch the water, then run away again. She became thoroughly soaked and, also predictably, would run up to her Mom or Dad or Nonna and give them a BIG wet hug on a regular basis. She also giggled throughout the entire experience.
One of the reasons I love kids so much is the way they find such joy in life. Do you remember....
the thrill of running through a sprinkler on a hot day....
how fun it was to see who could spit the watermelon seeds the farthest.....
playing flashlight tag in the dark, convinced that behind every shadow lay something so spooky your imagination couldn't visualize it.....
waiting for the bus with your brother or sister and the talks you would have....
mixing your ice cream up so that it turned into a soupy, gloopy mess and then slurping it down.....
making mud pies....
making forts....
playing kickball at recess and hoping hoping hoping you wouldn't be picked last....
watching cartoons on a Saturday morning....
how exciting Christmas Eve was....
believing in the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny and Santa Clause....
sledding until your cheeks turned rosy and your fingers froze....
I'm sure I could come up with tons more memories that ring of childhood and all it's joys, but I'm also sure that you get the idea.
Thank God for children, who remind us to keep a little bit of the wonder and mystery and sheer unadulterated joy of childhood.....
4 comments:
Man, I made the BEST mud pies in the world! And as for forts, I LOVED making them :D I wrote a poem called brain freeze once, and another called snow angels. Both serve to try and remind us of what we as adults lose when we ignore our imagination. Thank you for the smile from these memories this morning :)
AAhh, the innocence of youth.
I got a little misty eyed reading this post Lisa! I agree, if it weren't for kids the world could make for a dull place. I loved discovering "new" things as a kid as much as I'm sure my parents loved watching my discovery.
And now that I'm the "grown-up" I adore watching other kids discover life around them - even if those kids are perfect strangers to me.
And oh! how important the LITTLE things were when you were a kid. Scrapping enough coins out of your Dad's change jar to buy an ice cream cone or picking blueberries (& eating far more than actually ended up in the bucket) catching fireflies...such great times.
Thanks for the memories!
PS I haven't gotten any email from you recently - but I just emailed you so reply to that one! :-)
Picture, lee, we need more pictures! Ay Dios Mio!
love brudda'
ps I miss my neices
One more thing...I remember all of those things (except for the flashlight tag) I always spit watermelon seeds farther than you, Haaaaaaaa ha ha ha ha ah a, ahaaaaaaaaaa ha ha ha ha ha haa!!!
It was nice growing up with you.
lovebruddaagain
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