It’s December 13th. As Santa does last minute check and balance of the naughty and nice list and stuffs Donner and Blitzen with nutrient packed meals of alfalfa and carrots, two little girl’s in my backyard have dropped their skivvies, and are turning back the seasonal clock from winter to summer.
They’re in the pool. Sure, no hair is wet yet, but out are the water guns, and styrofoam floaties. Oh and on the same day as getting their picture taken with Santa and the downtown Christmas parade.
Sixty-seven-degrees and sunny may seem not such a wild idea, but with the temperatures in the 30’s at night you wouldn’t catch my big toe in that ice box.
I did contemplate doing a polar plunge on January 1st in that leaf catching basin, and still might. But that shocking and unwanted choice is one only to be made impulsively in the moment of.
Uh oh, we just had a full underwater immersion.
“Miss Jaclynn, look at what I’m going to do!” It’s a floatation device she’s twirling in the air, and is proud to put it on to help her body not drown when her muscles seize from the cold.
After a thermometer check of the water, it’s in the low 50’s and a Google search of humans capacities in that temperature water has me rethinking things. Hypothermia isn’t the problem as much as the 30–60 degree range makes the body fail to move.
Phew. They’re towing their bare-footed, bathing suited selves to the swingset. And they’re onto a new game.
“If you come and walk up the ladder you will get electrocuted,” Emma tells Evelyn. Evelyn is pretending to be a coyote. Each new rule starts with “Pretend.”
“Pretend I’m mad at first.”
“Pretend I put you in a cage.”
“Pretend you just walked in and I bit me.”
Earlier, as I proudly completed progress notes prior to their due date, I also eavesdropped on their game.
“Pretend you die there.”
“Pretend I punch you so hard you can’t breathe.”
I couldn’t help and compare and contrast their violent, and barbaric ways with that of the stereotypical little girl.
Samantha, my playmate when I was a similar age to these girls, and I didn’t do war-like play. What we did do was divvy up my piggy bank of quarters, nickels, dimes, and pennies and play 5-card draw poker with the staying power for hours like Wild Bill Hickok and Doc Holliday.
No wonder I ended up being a poker dealer for over a decade.
Alright, time to corral those wannabe bad girls to cleaning up the pool toys and drying off. It’s the Christmas parade coming up next.
Love, Jaclynn
Going On 40 