Paddle on Osgood Pond
My husband and I are alone. My daughter is worried as she goes off to a play date that we will be lonely. We are soon in the middle of a pond, completely alone. There are no young voices yelling to see a cobweb, bug, rock, or floating stick. There are never long moments of silence. The dynamic children bring to any activity can fill the air and allow one to see things differently. The enthusiasm for the simplest of things is refreshing. That said, they also have the ability to vacuum the positive energy right out of a given situation with life altering decisions like they no longer like bread while dramatically claiming starvation at the same time they wave a sandwich overhead. Another way is when is when they have to go to the bathroom only after being life-jacketed and paddling in the middle of a lake no matter how many times they are asked before to take care of business. It happens and we survive but during all that I am not always tuned into the hermit thrush’s call. I