I've done it before, but last time the day I chose was a quiet and slow day. Hardly anyone was there. There were no crowds. I could see all of them all the time. This year, it was a zoo. People were everywhere. The boys had a lot of fun. There were obstacle courses and a million bales of hay to climb on and jump off of. There were swings and zip-lines and a giant pit filled with corn to play in. It was great, except for those five minutes where my worst fears were realized and I lost a child. It only took a second. I looked away in response to one child calling my name only to turn around and find little Tobias missing. By the time I found him perched on top of a giant pumpkin far from where he had been I was frantic and sobbing. He smiled, "I was looking for you! Where you go Momma?" I hugged him so tight, I was probably in danger of causing internal damage. We had a talk about what to do if he didn't see Mommy or any brothers. STAY THERE. Just call our names. Don't move. I thought about leaving right then, but I decided to stick it out. I'm glad I did. Otherwise, I would have missed the opportunity to chastise David John for peeing corn. He was piling corn onto his lap and then standing up and controlling the corn with his hand so that a small stream of it trickled out at a time. "Are you pretending to pee corn?!?" I asked. He looked up, startled, that I had read his mind. Yep. Would have missed that and the looks I got from parents of children who were not pretending to urinate starches. But I also would have missed the happiness of little boys free to move through space in ways that are normally frowned upon. Free to jump and climb and run. So many of the pictures I took show boys in motion- in their element. So, it was crowded, the cookie people charged me too much for the cookies and there were some terrifying moments of doing headcounts to make sure no one was lost again but I think it was worth it. Here is the picture proof:
No comments:
Post a Comment