Tadpoles and Other Luxuries

My feet were dry and tired after being on them all day and the puddle near the driveway looked so cool and refreshing.

I rolled my pant legs up and stepped in.

As my feet cooled, I began to relax and suddenly found myself in the creek at Emory park circa 1966.

As kids, no trip to the park was complete without running down to the creek looking for tadpoles and salamanders.

Our little driveway puddle was brimming with tadpoles and I wondered how many of the kids just two generations after me have had the thrill of catching a tadpole in a creek in the woods with their bare hands.

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I was at my granddaughter’s school for pie day ( that’s π day) a couple weeks ago. They had some cool (non-pie related) activities going on in the gym and one of them involved tadpoles.

The youngster manning the tadpole table asked the group of kids and adults surrounding him if anyone wanted to hold a tadpole.

No one’s hand went up but mine.

You would have thought he’d asked who wanted to hold a snake-in which case my hand still would have gone up but everyone else would’ve taken two steps back.

By the time I was finished holding my new friend, my granddaughter had decided she wanted to try, too.

Such a brave lass.

I think she liked it.

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I wonder how many of the things my generation took for granted do our grandchildren see as wild, unbelievable, silly, or just plain weird?

Things like going to the park to catch tadpoles, hopscotch on a sidewalk on a summer day, penny candy, songs our mother used to sing to us–You’re a Grand Old Flag, Baby Boat’s a Silver Moon, Bicycle Built for Two, Show Me the Way to Go Home, to name a few–Saturday morning cartoons, and Sunday dinner at Grandma’s.

Do kids climb trees anymore?

Make mud pies?

You can watch the northern lights on you tube (I suspect), but it will never equal the feeling you get from standing outside at night beside a lake in the Adirondacks with purple and green lights dancing in the sky around you.

Never.

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You know, if you stand in the puddle long enough, the tadpoles will swim closer and tickle your feet.

Now, that’s my kind of luxury!

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