Guess how many pictures we took tonight? 119. That's right--119. I took 15, turned the camera over to Jeff because I was having a really hard time taking good pics because of the fading light, and he took the rest of those 119. All I can say is--gotta love digital cameras!!!
~ small dam at the river
~ David looking up a tunnel slide he thoroughly enjoyed
~ looking down the river at dusk
~ Josiah playing Poohsticks...or trying to...the water wasn't moving, so we would throw sticks into the river and they would just sit there...in case you're not familiar with the game of Poohsticks, the sticks are supposed to come out from under the other side of the bridge; and it's a race to see whose stick will come out first*The funniest-to-me personal example of childhood illusions being demolished happened early in our marriage when Jeff and I had taken a trip up the California coast and found ourselves in Morro Bay. Jeff told me all about his good memories of how he and his family used to go there for his dad's art shows...and they would buy delicious smoked fish to eat...and there was a life-size outdoor chess board where people would pick up these huge, life-size pieces and move them. So we decided to drive around until we found this big chessboard and pieces. The town of Morro Bay is not that big so it didn't seem like a hard thing to find. Surely chess pieces that big would attract some attention, right? Well, we drove around and around and...(you can probably guess what is coming)...we finally found the outdoor chessboard. But was it huge? No! Were the pieces gigantic? Not at all! In fact, they came up to maybe the knees of an adult! :) But in Jeff's child eyes, they had indeed seemed huge; and his mind preserved them that way. I can still picture his face--confused, crestfallen, a bit disbelieving--when he discovered the truth. But in fairness to Jeff, I'm convinced we all have illusions like this. Some are uncovered as we grow older, and some remain hidden...but all of us have them. That fact didn't keep me from teasing Jeff about his "life-size" chess pieces though! :)
3 comments:
that is sooo funny! I know there's an analogy/metaphor in that whole life sized chess piece story!! :D the writer in me can smell it. hee hee
When I was a little girl I went to Florida to visit my cousin. She had a giant sea turtle and all of the kids would sit on his back and ride-- except me. I was deathly afraid of the enormous turtle. One day, after repeating this story dozens of times to various people, I reminded my Floridian cousin of their giant sea turtle. She said, "We never had a giant sea turtle. We had a a small turtle and each of us kids would take a turn standing on his shell." Honestly, I did NOT believe her. I told her no way, I remember distinctly all of the kids sitting on his back with him walking around. And that I was always scared. She tried to convince me and finally, I took the story to my older sister for verification. Yep, it was only a little ole' turtle and I was so deathly afraid of the thing that I blew him up to epic proportions. The mind of a child is so imaginative!
New Mom, that is HILARIOUS! Thanks for sharing a great story! :)
Christin, you figured out the deeper metaphor yet??? :)
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