Mg's Muddy Adventure

Shea Clarke
June 2002

My child got dirty this evening...

I mean really dirty.

This was a first for her. I am not an out-doorsie person at all, and I guess it’s selfish of me, but I have never encouraged her to play in the dirt and get filthy.

Tonight after dinner we went to the park with my friend Tracey and her kids, our friend Jackie and her kids and Tracey’s sister-in-law, Tanya and her little girl.

At the bottom of the big slide was a huge puddle in the sand. Before we realized what he was doing, Tracey’s 3 yr old son, Nathan, came flying down the slide and landed on his bottom in the middle of the puddle.

We all laughed, the look on his face was priceless.

Well, as they say, “Monkey See, Monkey Do”, and all the other kids started doing it too.

It was hot and humid tonight so, it wasn’t a big deal to the other Moms. 

Well, Marygrace went down the slide as well but she always caught herself and stood before hitting the puddle.

You could tell by her expression she wanted to get wet as well, but she wasn't sure of how I would react.

Tracey and Tonya started egging Marygrace on to have fun in the big puddle. She looked up at me with those huge chocolate colored eyes and I melted and sighed and said, "Oh, go ahead.”

She had so much fun!! Tracey went to the park buildings water pipe and filled up some bottles she had in her car to add more water to the puddle and they had a blast.

Marygrace was even the first one to go down on her belly into it.

They played in that puddle for well over an hour, in fact until   it was dark and time to leave the park.

After we got home, I got her into the shower and then into her PJ’s and gave her a snack and proceeded to put her to bed.

She kissed me goodnight and smiled so big and said…“Thank you for letting me play in the mud Mommy. I had so much fun”, and she fell asleep before I had her video tape rewound…So happy and content.

So, tonight I learned something once again from this beautiful child that the Lord has blessed me with.

I learned that sometimes we have to look past what we want or think is good and consider that others may feel differently.

I learned that a muddy puddle can bring joy, and that small children can get dirty and then soap and water makes all well again.

Yes, she got filthy, but, she had so much fun and had created a wonderful childhood memory. 

Most important, no harm was done...My kid got filthy, dirty and we both survived.

I guess I need to learn to loosen up a bit.