Thursday, March 22, 2012

Thursday's Child: Dirt

"In the Spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt."
Margaret Atwood
                                                                         Source: marielliott.deviantart.com via Sally on Pinterest

What child wouldn't agree with this quote?
I planted several pots of flowers yesterday, and the dirt under my finger nails made me feel so good, in such a Spring sort of way.
Today Phillip had the afternoon off, and we went out to the Red Rocks Ampitheater to run the trails in the sun. I came home with my ankles covered in red dirt and such a satisfied, sunburned, exhausted feeling.  
When I was a little girl, my older sister once arranged for a mud-ball fight between my younger brother and I. On a fine Spring day, when the mud was just ripe and we were unsupervised in the backyard, she lined us up across from each other and told us to throw our mud balls on the count of three. Over and over, Isaac and I slung the globs at each other, laughing and crying out in delightful muddy joy at the sheer mess and wildness of the game. Katya stayed well clear of the flying muck, but seemed to take just as much joy in watching the disgusting ruckus. 
But the fun was not meant to last, and my mom was eventually attracted by our shrieks. She must have known that we sounded a little too happy and were all getting along a little too well. Her face, when she came out the back door and discovered us covered head to foot in rich black soil, was slightly horrified, but I'm pretty sure her lip twitched just a little in amusement. But then, she settled down to business.
She lined us up for her own game. And she started with me. I was hosed down with freezing cold water, and suddenly the Spring day lost all of its cheer. The sun was no longer warm, mud was no longer funny, and Katya was in big trouble. We have a hilarious picture of Isaac and I following the mud ball fight. I'm dirty and drenched and sobbing, my pigtails dripping muddy water, while Isaac looks on and laughs. He's still covered in mud, and he hasn't quite grasped just how cold the water is going to be. But I just smile when I see that picture. I don't mind his laughter. Because I know: he's next. 

3 comments:

  1. Wait, wait, wait...I don't remember it this way! I am pretty sure you and Isaac were DYING to play in the mud and I just had the good sense to keep out of it. Your memories all seem to be faulty where I'm concerned...;-)
    But I do love that picture too. It's hilarious!

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  2. I LOVE this story. Can we see the picture one day? ;)

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  3. What a great memory, and yes, at the end of the day we should all smell like dirt!! My kids decided to dig a swimming pool, but after several hours of digging and resoaking the ground to make it easier to keep digging, they decided a mud bath was just as good.

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