That is a happy face.
These few moments in the hotel pool were my very favorite moments of the recent trip to B'ham.
The water was FREEZING ... like, my skin turned bluish freezing. That wasn't the good part. Well, let me start at the beginning of this...
I thought there was a pretty good chance that little miss hadn't been inside a hotel before, maybe she would like the dime tour ... turned out true. I also hoped that she would want to go swimming in the middle of the winter. She did. This is my good friend H's little girl ... she would tell you that she is almost four ... she would tell you a lot of things and ask you a lot of things too. The child ... rocks. I am not one of those women who really want to spend time with children. Liking, loving really, time with my own children actually has been one of the two biggest surprise of my life, and I'm old enough to have had a few! Up until this visit friend's child and I hadn't actually connected. She likes her G'momma (also a friend) or my daughter C (who she thinks looks like a barbie doll) or ... mostly her momma (really mostly her dad!). She's just growing up, and ready to experiment with adding more people to her life. I was happy when she liked the idea of swimming. I didn't expect to get in with her ... and I can't thank her enough for the joy that those moments soaked in to my soul.
I'm sitting on the side of the pool on a towel chatting with H ... and, I know we have to at least put our feet in. Boy is the water cold. H is under doctor's orders to stay out of the pool (so she says tucking her feet up under her ... cozy ... toasty like). Little miss steps right in holding on to the rail ... and squeals as she leaps out ... and in, and out, and back in for the next several minutes. She splashes her momma and we all laugh. I am hoping she doesn't splash me, I can feel cold shivers running up my spine. She tells me she is almost four. There are four steps to reach the floor of the pool. "Can you count to four?" I ask, and she begins counting, slowly, in the sweetest little Southern child voice I've ever heard. Did I mention she has the most beguiling golden topaz eyes? She adds counting to the delightful (really) squealing and giggling ... it's infectious. I ask her if she can count the steps as she wades in ... she is not too sure about the deep water. She isn't confident that the pink water wings will work as well as they did during the summer. I coax her to hold on to the rail, but she isn't having any of that. She thinks we should both step in, but I try telling her that the water is way too cold for old ladies. I tell her that old ladies have really thin skin (I guess like it stretches out over our old bones or something), and she looks at me so intently ... she's thinking about it and I am pretty sure she's gonna bite ... then a tiny smile pulls it's way up to sparkle her eyes and she says, "I don't think so." I love love love a child who is willing to think. Before she is exhausted by the chattering of her little teeth and the popping up of goose bumps all over her sweet skin, she has me in the pool swirling her around on the life preserver and zooming her towards the wall for a kick off ... all this while laughing and sweetly conversing.
Her momma got her to thinking about how nice a warm bath would be. Thank goodness I had an apple in my bag, 'cause the girl was hungry after all that ... still giggly, she wanted me to see how long her hair is when it's wet, and by the way, Fuji is also her favorite, but she doesn't think she likes jellybeans. She has a little piece of my heart.
Soooo ... a little soaking wet bit of a girl, almost four, with sparkle pink fingernails and toe nails ... and all of her baby teeth shining in her smiles reminded me of something that I wish I hadn't forgotten.
It's a treat to get to do something you love to do ... doesn't really matter if the conditions are less then, it's still a treat. This child brings some serious joy with her. It radiates from her pores. She is all in with it. She laughed at that cold water ... didn't let it stop her from the adventure ... and she got me re-focused too. There was nothing more important then helping her feel safe enough to venture away from the steps. And while I very gently pulled her through the water in a big lazy eight pattern, she laid her head back and softly sang Jesus Loves Me.
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