Reminders of Summers long since past

We try very hard to ensure that LatteGirl has as much as we can to ensure fun in the sun at summertime. TheWife and I both love to work outdoors on the flowers, the lawn, etc. Plus the fact that as summer comes we want to spend as little time in front of the “idiot box” as possible.

Sometimes with a short attention span it can be difficult to try and accomplish the tasks at hand when you have a child around that is “bored” and looking to be entertained. So we have enough stuff, to generally keep that from happening.

However, as I discovered (or more properly – was reminded) by LatteGirl yesterday. “Entertainment” does not always require money, toys or a “plan.” Sometimes all it takes is a garden hose and a lawn sprinkler.

She was playing on her swingset yesterday as I put on the sprinkler in the back of the yard. I started tending to another task when I heard a scream. Not a bad scream. A scream of joy, of elation, a scream that brought me back to the days when cooling off mean either going to the park where a large pipe and sprinkler head was the hit of the neighborhood, or a fire hydrant sprayed down the kids on the street. No particular game or agenda. Just run around like crazy, into the water enough to get cooled off, and then out again because the water was freezing cold.

As I turned around to look, I saw her running through and over and even under the streams of water going back and forth. For a brief moment, I was not pleased as I realized that she was still in her school clothes, and I briefly entertained the thought of stopping her… at least to go and put on her bathing suit. But I didn’t. She was already wet, so what good would it do? The spontaneity and reckless joy would be sucked out, because I had become too old to just understand the fun of being a kid. So I just sat down for a while, and watched. Reminded of the reckless abandon of my own youth, reminisced a bit, but more importantly watched as she enjoyed the moment, and hopefully built a piece of her own memory, a memory she will be able to look back on with fondness years from now.