Flowers With My Friends
In 3rd grade my girlfriends and I would retreat to the playground for recess. We were 'over' the swingset phase and had outgrown the jungle gym.
We had tired of dodgeball and tetherball (which these tiny hands could never master)...
So every recess we would head to the far reaches of the green grass and sit in a circle.
We chose our spot meticulously-
Far enough away from the lower-grade kids and far enough away we couldn't hear any annoying boys.
And we chose a place where there was an abundance of little white flowers.
Every recess we would sit Indian-style, talking about who-knows-what. And we would tie all the tiny white flowers together to make what we thought were the most amazing wreaths, bracelets and necklaces.
Sometimes we made them so long we would try to use them as a jumprope. That never worked very well but it still felt like a huge accomplishment to tie so many tiny white flowers together to create something so long.
After recess we would wear our new pieces. Sometimes, when the bell rang we would do our best to hide our unfinished work. We didn't want the naughty boys to come and tear our flowers apart.
And more often than not the boys would trample our flowers and we would have to start over again.
As I sat last weekend amongst girlfriends I realized that much hasn't changed since 3rd grade. While we have traded our small flowers for pots and pans and other items to sit and gossip around, we still love to be in one another's company sharing in a mutual love for simple pleasures.
We had tired of dodgeball and tetherball (which these tiny hands could never master)...
So every recess we would head to the far reaches of the green grass and sit in a circle.
We chose our spot meticulously-
Far enough away from the lower-grade kids and far enough away we couldn't hear any annoying boys.
And we chose a place where there was an abundance of little white flowers.
Every recess we would sit Indian-style, talking about who-knows-what. And we would tie all the tiny white flowers together to make what we thought were the most amazing wreaths, bracelets and necklaces.
Sometimes we made them so long we would try to use them as a jumprope. That never worked very well but it still felt like a huge accomplishment to tie so many tiny white flowers together to create something so long.
After recess we would wear our new pieces. Sometimes, when the bell rang we would do our best to hide our unfinished work. We didn't want the naughty boys to come and tear our flowers apart.
And more often than not the boys would trample our flowers and we would have to start over again.
As I sat last weekend amongst girlfriends I realized that much hasn't changed since 3rd grade. While we have traded our small flowers for pots and pans and other items to sit and gossip around, we still love to be in one another's company sharing in a mutual love for simple pleasures.And even if a naughty boy or life should come and trample our flowers, it doesn't keep us from coming together and starting over again.
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