A Nice Day At The Pool

It was a little on the hot side today. Perhaps an understatement here in the Tropical Paradise. It is April, after all, the hottest month over here, wedged in between the Northern and the Southern Monsoons.

It made for a good day at the pool, though. My condo is right at the edge of the pool, and my "smoking" veranda affords a great view. Earlier I was privileged to observe a nice family: a temple-tattooed old country bumpkin great-grandpa, very thin and weathered; a very well preserved grandma, quite attractive; a stunning young mother, joyous in her cute, two piece bathing suit and expensively dyed blond hair; and two young, well behaved children with nice little swim suits, wearing bathing caps. I love to watch entire families interact with good humor.

Later on, a different vision. A boy, very young but confidently post-diaper age, and his mom. The boy was outfitted in a full scale May-West life jacket of cheerful yellow and blue, you could have tossed him into the ocean and gone back for him tomorrow. It went down to his knees, and the collar was so full you could hardly see his face. The rig included a rather loud whistle, you could even have returned for him at night, he was fully prepared. I’m sure that there was a light in there somewhere too.

This mom had a depressed aspect. Not angry, not unattractive, but tired and unhappy looking, the two-thousand-yard-stare. She interacted with the child indifferently. I had thought that she was merely chunky, but upon further inspection I began to think that she is pregnant again. One just out of diapers and more diapers on the way. What’s a mother to do?

Children of all demographics must learn to accept their parents as they are. God bless the lucky children who find themselves in well adjusted, cheerfully social families; and especially God bless the children who find themselves otherwise placed.