THEY’RE NOT SAD NOW
Whew, I didn’t really intend to take a vacation from the blog but things have been quiet and I’ve been trying to make the most of it by WRITING-WRITING-WRITING. In just three weeks, the traveling begins again with a trip to Waco and The Woodlands, TX (and a chance to visit my cousin and her family). And we’re off!
Last weekend, granddaughter Remy (and family) came for dinner. I really am lazy this summer - we ordered out. Dinner was over and the grownups were still lingering around the dining table - our family’s favorite place to talk - but Remy went into the living room to play with a few ragtag toys I have left over from Walshe’s childhood. (My son, now 23.) There’s a Coca-Cola Polar Bear, a monkey from Camp Tumbleweed, where my son was a camper and later a counselor, another monkey that was a gift from my parents - kids love it because it waves its tail while its mouth moves and it chatters … and then there are the hamster and frog puppets that represent Humphrey and Og from the Humphrey series.
I went in to see what was happening and Remy told me the distressing news: “They’re all sad.”
“What should we do to make them feel better?” I asked.
She thought they should go to bed.
So we found a throw and tucked them in together on the couch. Soon, according to Remy, they were feeling much better! And hopefully, our family sing-along around the piano helped cheer them up. I left them there all night and I can assure you, in the morning they were completely happy again.
I love children’s play. I guess that’s why I write for children. Next time I’m sad, I guess I’ll just go to bed … and hopefully wake up feeling a lot better.
New thought:
I’ve often told people that we rarely have lightning and thunder in Southern California. In fact, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen lightning in the 25-plus years I’ve lived here.
Last night, I got up around 4 (bathroom break - or is that Too Much Information?) and definitely saw lightning. I found this so unbelievable (and there was no thunder), I opened the curtains to watch and the sky was continually lit with what had to be lightning. I went back to bed and forgot about it until I heard the news today: there was a highly unusual lightning storm last night and there were over 400 strikes. At least I wasn’t dreaming.
What a lovely little lightshow, thanks to Mother Nature.