Last week’s post reminded me of a lesson I learned years ago. My family lives in a corner house in a quiet neighborhood, and whenever it rains the four corners of the intersection collect water. One day my little daughter wanted to go for a walk in a drizzling rain and I thought, why not. So we put on rain gear and off we went. We did not melt and it felt good to go against common sense and just enjoy the adventure.
It began to rain more heavily after we had walked around the block and were inside again. Big puddles formed at the corners of the intersecting roads. This time, my daughter wanted to go wade in the puddles. Well, one of my fondest memories of childhood was one day after a heavy rain the sun came out and my mom let me go wading barefoot in big puddles on our neighborhood streets. The rainwater was warm and the mud squishy in my toes. The rain had now settled into a light dripping, so thinking of the fun I once had I put the raincoat back on my daughter, pulled up the hood and set her feet into her big sister’s Land’s End yellow boots (I worry about glass in the streets). I stood under an umbrella watching for cars while my daughter most happily stomped in the puddle like an overgrown duckling.
Well, even those tall boots could not keep that splashing muddy water from jumping inside to wet the white lining and my daughter’s stocking feet, nor did the raincoat keep her short pants from getting soaked with dirty water. I looked at the mess in dismay, but bit my tongue and said nothing. The girl had been so happy, throwing her arms into the air with delight. Sometimes a parent just has to let a child be free – free to get messy, free to have fun in unconventional ways… and that reminds me of the mudfight my older daughter and her friends got into one day…
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