Pink Think: “The essence of childhood, of course, is play, which my friends and I did endlessly on streets that we reluctantly shared with traffic.” – Bill Cosby
photo from pbase.com
I was sitting in the truck waiting for my youngest finish her flute lesson when an interesting scene unfolded at the yard across the street.
The little girl looked about five, her brother three. There was a little wading pool on their small but tidy front lawn. A hose spewed water mostly on the driveway and on this little dirt patch between the driveway and lawn. Their mom came out and told them to turn the water off. “And don’t you dare come in with muddy feet,” she added for good measure.
The mom went inside and the two kids gravitated towards the little mud puddle that had by now formed in the dirt patch. The girl brought out a spade from the garage. The boy began digging. Soon, the spade was ditched to the side for his hands.
Like a well-plotted short story, I could just see where this was heading.
It was mostly the boy who kneaded that mud and scooped the mud with his hands. The girl looked at her brother’s handiwork, saw that I was watching, then grinned. The kneading turned to mashing, the mashing to smacking, big clumps of mud flying up and making dalmatian spots on them, the driveway, everywhere. The girl laughed and laughed. She gave me a conspiratory glance and I joined in the laughter, too.
The mom came out. “Oh my. Don’t you REALLY dare come in here now.”
***
I feel like a kid again when I:
eat Cheetos and lick my fingers
go on picnics
feed the ducks in the pond
float on my back in a swimming pool and watch the clouds
swim and get my hair wet (and not worry about how I look)
save a toy china set my daughters no longer want & have a tea party
dance to happy music
pick flowers
play with paper dolls
buy a gumball from the machine
***
What makes YOU feel like a kid again?
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