Good Clean Fun (Well, Sort Of)

(I started this post some time ago....DOH!)You know those times when you have kids in your group and you end up doing something that you haven't done since you were a kid yourself? I've been thinking about all that fun stuff lately. For instance, yesterday was our dear friends Tommy and Deone Spencer's 36th anniversary and we all went to the Kooky Kanuck to celebrate. Well, the table across from us had several kids that obviously "belonged" to the parents and then a few other friends that had come along. The parents ordered Shirley Temple's all around and when they came out, those kids acted like it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. And as I watched them, I remembered feeling that same way. Back when getting your sugar water with extra sugar water AND cherries in it was a HUGE deal. It's never on the menu of any restaurant but everybody knows what it is. I even thought it was so fancy just the sound of ordering one. "I'd like a Shirley Temple, please."

Or what about the sheer amount of joy that rushed through your veins when you got to run through a sprinkler....in your clothes!!??! This is something that grown-ups never consider doing. We don't want to get our makeup runny, mess up our hair, or God forbid, look like foolish kids. Well, a few weeks ago, I was with my niece and nephew at a free kids show held here. It was one of those typical Southern Summer days where the wind stays put, the sun is beaming from ear to ear, the Cicadas are singing their loud, clear song, and no one moves too fast to get where they're going. Needless to say, the crowd was glistening from every angle. Well, there at the bottom of the hill, someone had placed a water sprinkler for the kids to cool off in.
Now, it has been probably 15 years since I've had a Shirley Temple and I think that's a big fat shame. And I wished I had gotten one instead of my beer, just because. And at that concert for the kids, I considered not getting in that sprinkler, but I did it. And ooooh it felt so good. Their mom, my sister, and I kept running down the hill with the kids and getting in the sprinkler when we got hot. It made me feel like a kid again.
This brings me to my antics the other night. Let me back up a little. I was coming home from a late class the other night and I noticed that someone had rolled a tree in our front yard. It was a most peculiar rolling, only one tree. Well we found out who did it and so we concocted a plan to get her back. Get her back we did. The pictures you see are our devilish attacks on a not so innocent friend. ;) I got the whole plan together and was quite proud of myself. They were showing Sabrina at the Summer movie series at the Orpheum and before the movie, offering a wine tasting. I enlisted the help of another dear friend who took "Lil' D"* to the movie for a girls night, where we all met up with her after we had done the damage. "Fancy seeing you here!" We all acted so innocent. Well, after the movie was over, we followed them home from afar. I don't know if it was more fun putting the toilet paper and paper towels all over everything or hearing her reaction later when she called us laughing hysterically. And one of the greatest parts is we show up to the house and no one is supposed to be home. Well, her husband was back in town unexpectedly and he came outside and saw us. My dear sweet mom who would give the shirt off of her back to anyone, and doesn't have a mean bone in her body I'm sure of it, marched right up to him and asked if we could roll the yard. He promptly said, "no." "Lil' M" looked shocked and turned to another one of our bandits and said, "Huh! He said we can't roll it!!!" She was so disappointed. Well, my sweet mom steps in again and says, "Well, she rolled mine!!" And so he said, "ha..ok." And we got to rollin'. I was so proud...

*names have been changed to protect the innocent ;)