Still Too Hot

Another too hot day. Today didn’t seem as bad to me though, maybe because we fled the house at exactly 5:45pm and descended upon the nearest public pool with what seemed like millions of other people. I forgot what the feeling of being a germ in a petri-dish was. I remember now. But I’m also cooler for it & the chilluns are all tuckered out & had a good time. I love the water. I love to swim (not that I did any of that today).

M1, of course, had a blast (MUST get the girl swimming lessons). M2 also had a blast. She played with the buckets that were there & then I floated her over to one of the fountains where she could actually stand on her own two feet & she’d put her hands in it and look at me in total wonder, then back to it, back to me… Then we inched our way over to another type of fountain that wasn’t so entertaining. About 15 minutes before we left, she started resting her head on my shoulder. This is usually a clue that she’s freaking exhausted. She’s so good natured though, even when tired. It’s just when she’s decided to have an opinion about something that she can be a huge pill. She gurgled & babbled happily, even though M1 splashed her in the face more than a few times by accident in her exuberance. M2′d turn around and look at me with wide eyes, water dripping off her sweet little nose, & go in her little Pebbles Flintstone voice, “Ooooooooohhhhh! Agabbah bahbahbah! BAH! Mem-mem-mem-mem!” (Mem-mem-mem is me, if she’d been talking to or about P, she’d say Dah-dah-dah). So swimming, good.

After the kids were in bed I had some of the raspberry crunch that P’s Mom brought over to us when they visited with some ice cream. No, I didn’t make the ice cream. We finished the honey ice cream off & his folks brought store-bought not knowing what they’d find here. It’s cold. Hard to argue with that logic right now. For just a moment, I had a total flashback to being not much older than Marian, visiting my Gramma & going to the beach club every day of our visit & having homemade raspberry jam on toast in the morning in the beautiful old Laurelhurst house before going back to the beach club, *again*. The smell and taste of the raspberries, the heat & wet hair on my back… Maybe it was just her angel passing by…

I’ve been thinking a lot about when I was a kid lately. I had a very intense dream after P got up with M2 this morning about going back and visiting Calgary in the fall. Somehow we were able to go into and see the townhouse that we lived in most of the years we were up there. And it was fall, and all the maples were that rich beautiful red, and it smelled like fall with the leaves turning, but not yet leaving the tree, I can’t describe the smell… it’s not pitchy, it’s… leafy, but not green leafy… I can describe the smell of summer to me, it’s mown hay & blackberries & hot pavement & salt water. I don’t know how to describe fall though. But it has a distinctive smell too. Anyway. So we visited Calgary, visited the townhouse, walked to the playfield, some semi-conscious part of me realized I was dreaming & decided to fly in the maple trees. It must’ve been a dream or I’d have been smacked in the face by the branches… ;) Flying dreams are so weird.

Maybe it’s because my brother was just up there doing the Calgary Marathon (did very well, btw, coming in 29th overall, and 3rd in his age group, he’s not sure but he might get a trophy for the 3rd place thing… and all this despite the altitude difference which knocked a couple minutes off his best time, qualified for Boston a second time, too). He & my parents stayed with family friends. It was interesting to get his adult perspective on them, and the kids we spent so much time with who are grown ups now too — I know that’s how it happens, but last time I saw everyone the oldest was… 15? and there were three younger? Anyway… been a long time since I saw anyone from those times… I wonder what brings it all up now?

Not so much in a space to be reflective about homework (due next Thursday at midnight), I’ve been reflective of the past, particularly the pre-ten years old past, in a big way though. I guess what’s the use of living a life if you don’t get to remember it?