Water in the boots

11 Oct Water in the boots

My son and I have a Plants vs. Zombies problem.
It started because his doctor prescribed
that he do 20 minutes of video games a day
to fix his eye.
(Lucky kid)

Then, he got me into it. Brilliant kid.
Cuz, last night
we did almost an hour.
The time just slipped by
ERRRRRRRR….

Yikes.

I stop the game. He gets annoyed.
I think fast to divert his attention to something else.

It was pouring down rain
He was in his pajamas
I told him a story about his grandpa
The amazing man my son never met

I use storytelling to teach him
stuff I want him to learn
Like, follow your heart
especially if people do not understand
and attack you for it
or make fun of you
(kindergarten can be tough)

SO, I’m in the middle of the story
about a little girl who went to live with her
dad in a studio apartment in Sacramento
Little girl: not used to being the only kid around
Single dad: not used to cooking or being a parent

One day, pouring down rain
Buckets
Dad says, “Let’s go for a walk to the cactus garden.”
This is not unusual
they did this a lot
it was just raining

No raincoat
No boots
No hat
No umbrella
No big deal

As they leave the lobby, Stan the doorman
shakes his head in a little “tsk tsk”
Poor single dad
doesn’t know not to get the kid wet

As they walk in the downpour
people rushing with umbrellas
do the same thing
‘tsk tsk’
Each time
dad grabs the little girls hand
and says
LET’S JUMP IN A PUDDLE
or LET’S GO KID!

They run and jump. Soaked is not the word.
Each admonishment
meant more fun.

When they arrive back to the lobby
There is not a dry spot on them anywhere
There are people milling about
under the overhang
watching in horror

Kid and dad
sit on the ledge near the row of mailboxes
and
pour the water out of their shoes
to a synchronized head shakes

They look at each other.
They laugh. They laugh together and so hard
it hurts.

The doorman hands them a mop
and they mop the floor behind them
as they slush over to the elevator
Laughing
Giggling

The snickers lasted a lifetime
The two of them often remembered that moment
With pride and love
The little girl told her dad the story
Moments before he took his last breath
To remind him how much it meant
and still means

My son asked me a ton of questions
about this story
He got the message
Then…

We jump up and go for a walk
in the rain
We find every puddle we can
Especially the muddy ones
And we are soaked

We get the ‘tsk-tsk’ from neighbors
We get the “are you guys crazy”
Each time
Sebastian grabs my hand and says
“LET’s GO KID!!”

I hesitate when Sebastian tells me to slide
down the slide with a puddle on the end
I shake my head no
He looks at me and says “Tsk tsk…”
My butt is soaked
Sand even
Glorious.

We end up kidnapping two of his friends
and taking them on the adventure
It isn’t raining enough
so we roll around in the grass
do ‘cannon balls’
because we just aren’t wet enough from the slide
hysterical

As we walk up to the house
at the gate
3 boys in tow
muddy beyond recognition

My son yells, “WAIT MOMMA”
(Man, I’m crying as I type this)

“For grandpa”
He sits on the steps and pours water out of his boots.

He looks at me
Just me and my kid
and my dad
for a moment there
and we laugh and giggle

Happy just doesn’t even begin to describe it.