1 Mother 2 Another

We had an unexpected treat this weekend:
friends invited us over to have lunch and swim, and we ended up
staying for almost nine hours having a fantastic time. We ate lunch
by the pool, swam for hours, changed into dry clothes, let the kids
watch movies and play like puppies while dinner was readied, ate
dinner, and then swam some more. By the time we went home the girls
were exhausted – the good kind of exhausted.


Our friends have a diving board, and Maddie and Cora were all over
it. They lined up and jumped in for HOURS. Maddie did
“trick” after “trick”: jumping like a
pencil, jumping in the straddle splits, and so on. Cora was
enamored of the deep part of the pool, and would cling to the side,
take a deep breath, then dive down in her snorkel mask, pushing
herself down the wall, to touch the bottom of the pool twelve
loooooong feet away before popping up again like a cork, smiling
insanely.


The girls had a great time.

And we did too, hanging out in the
sunshine, lazily eating grilled steak and consuming, well, more
than one margarita. I love having friends we can simply hang out
with, and watch the kids play like puppies for hours at a time.
Walking home that night, the girls were pooped but chatty and
bedtime was remarkably easy – no whining or melting down, but
not too much “but I’m not tired!” going on
either.


Then came the next morning.


Maddie woke up rather concerned because her leg was
“killing!” her. After I checked her over, I determined
that she’d pulled an inner thigh muscle with all her diving
board hijinks. As Maddie limped around the house getting ready for
church, she made another discovery – tender toes from
waaaaaaaaaaay too many hours pushing off the side of the pool.
Ouch.


Cora followed with her own list of maladies: sore toes including
one cracked open, and tender finger pads from gripping the side of
the pool. For hours. Cora was positively indignant that she should
be hurting JUST BECAUSE SHE HAD SOME FUN. It did not seem right to
be punished for hanging out and playing, doing nothing wrong.


I nodded my agreement as I desperately poured water into my
dehydrated body.


Might as well learn it now, girls: play hard, pay hard.