Sunday, July 21, 2019

The River


My bananas. 

Mr. Moon and I were sort of at loose ends today. Neither one of us had anything we had to do. He went out to the garage after breakfast and worked out there for awhile and I did laundry and chores inside and then I moved on to going through some clothes to give away, throw out, whatever.
Get rid of.
Why is this so damn hard?
And then I decided to cannibalize raggedy old too-small overalls for their strap hardware to replace broken hardware on other overalls that I still wear and that project went nowhere very fast.
Mr. Moon came in, hot and sweaty and ready to be done with outside work and we decided to get sandwiches at the Hilltop and then go to the river to eat them. The river seems safe enough right now although the gulf and the lakes do not. There have been reports of people getting flesh-eating bacteria in both the ocean and in local lakes but we (probably irrationally) believe that the cold, spring fed, flowing river is free of the nasty stuff. I cannot believe I am so calmly discussing the fact that people are dying from swimming in the Gulf of Mexico but the fact is, they are. It's probably ridiculous to worry about it. The odds of getting it are probably ridiculously low but who knows?
So off to the Hilltop we went and while we waited for our chicken salad sandwiches on the old church pew we got to talking with the couple who were waiting to our right. Well, the guy did all the talking. We were discussing random things that parents say to kids like, "Don't make me stop this car," and then we moved on to how when we were kids, paddling in the schools was absolutely allowed and the man came out with the thought that children don't get spanked nearly enough these days.
To Mr. Moon's great embarrassment, I'm sure, I had to speak up.
"Well, I disagree with you. I don't think it's ever right to hit kids," I said.
And I don't. I can't say I've never spanked a child but I wish I hadn't. I'm not proud that I did it. And I'm sixty-five (almost) years old and I don't have to listen to shit like that silently. What's the guy going to do? Hit me?
So that pretty much ended that conversation.
The ladies to the left of me were looking at memes on their phones. Memes like, (and this is a direct quote), "If you wake up without a song in your heart, sing anyway," which led them to say things like, "Oh, isn't that so beautiful? I just love that!"
Of course things like this make me want to puke and I will admit that I am EXTREMELY judgmental about people who think that these trite little pieces of bullshit are profound in any way.
I'm not proud of this either but at least I didn't feel the need to give my opinion on the subject to them. Mostly because they weren't talking to me. I mean, that would have just been rude.

Finally our sandwiches were ready and we drove to the Wacissa which was beautiful but absolutely crowded with people. We sat and ate our lunch and watched the goings-on for quite awhile. It was, as usual, a pretty mixed crowd at the river. Kids and parents and old people. Beige people, people of color, tattooed people, untattooed people, fat people, thin people, lots of people. No one was blasting any music and everyone seemed to be getting along. Packs of skinny little feral boys ran about, tossing things back and forth, absolutely unconcerned about where they were going or who they might be about to run into. Grown-ups and kids lined up to jump off the rope swing, flying high over the water and then dropping into the cold water. Kayaks were paddled off and paddled in. A few airboats disturbed the peace. The cypress trees swayed in the sweet, cool breeze coming off the water.
Sunday at the river.
Finally after our sandwiches had settled somewhat (wouldn't want to get those cramps our mothers always threatened us with) we both went into the water, holding our breath and just diving in because that's the only way to do it. The water's too damn cold to ease in. Gotta just mermaid it. A little girl came up to us and said that she, too, was going to get all the way in. She held her nose between her fingers and dunked as far as she could with her swimmies on and we congratulated her when she came up for air. "I can jump really high!" she said, and she demonstrated that, too.
And then we sat in our chairs some more, just completely relaxed, in the shade of a cypress tree until eventually we dunked ourselves in the water again and sat a little longer and finally packed up our stuff and loaded up the car and came home.
It was absolutely non-earthshaking but sweet and good for everything that ailed us.

And that was it for the Moon's today. We accomplished nothing. We relaxed. We were simply...being. It was nice.
I hope your day was too.

Love...Ms. Moon

12 comments:

  1. Well, you rightly stood up for kids remaining unassaulted. I have to admit, I think it would have been great if you'd rampaged over to the motivational quote ladies and given them a piece of your mind too. Social Justice Warrior Granny!

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  2. It sounds like a perfect day to me, in all respects. Good job avoiding feral little boys. I can close my eyes and see them.

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  3. I like Jo's Social Justice Warrior Granny, that fits you. I hope there are more relaxing days ahead for you both.

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  4. sounds like a pretty perfect day overall! Loved your description of the boys/kids playing at the river...... glad no obnoxious music this time! And.......if I had had children......I likely would have spanked them a few times myself......but I do not/did not......and I don't believe it is necessary....... perhaps one should wait until being 65 until becoming a parent? LOL......what an awful thought
    sleep well, hope a Martini was on tap when you got home
    Susan M

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  5. I have my grandson tonight and I imagine he will be a feral little boy when he's older. Right now his favorite thing is to be naked on the floor.

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  6. I am so pleased you said, "Well, I disagree with you. I don't think it's ever right to hit kids," when it would have been much easier to say nothing. You had to listen to that guy's pronouncement on the subject so why shouldn't he listen to yours? And I know what you mean about those trite moralising quotes..."Remember that today is the first day of the rest of your life." Utter crap.

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  7. you accomplished the most important thing in the world...relaxing, being at ease, enjoying the beauty of this planet. a third one of my banana trees is putting out a bloom stalk!

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  8. Oh My what a gorgeous way to spend a Sunday! I love that you and Mr. Moon was able to cool off in the river and just relax.
    I'm not sure what all I did yesterday. Kind of a blur. I read some blogs and worked on my own for a little bit. I wish mine was as good as yours but I am a little boring. (Okay a lot boring ha!).

    My daughter and family are headed this way from California. Not sure when they will be here. My son in law was hurt in Afghanistan and has a horrible time with his back and for some reason my daughters leg and foot is swelling and driving is difficult. My daughter that lives with us talked to her a little bit ago and they are in a hotel so they will be here when they get here... Oh Grandbabies in my arms.. YES!

    Looking forward to more wonderful stories.. Hugs, Beth Reed

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  9. Spoken like a true MARY! people need a bit of push back when they are saying detrimental BS that contributes to the violence in this country, on our children, Hitting a child is NEVER ok, nor is condoning tRUMPISMS, but that is more dangerous to push back against. you could get shot. Anyway, Good job!
    Your day sounds perfect really, and you did not encounter a flesh eating bacteria- Another job well done!
    Listening to Stones this morning- happiness sass, never lets me down. Thinking of you. Hippies were right, we were right, it could have been a better world, had the establishment only paid attention.

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  10. That sounds like a fabulous day. There's nothing like the feeling of getting into very cold water when you're hot, and then relaxing afterwards, feeling happy and refreshed. I'm impressed at your desire to salvage the overalls hardware! Hope it works!

    The flesh-eating bacteria thing is so scary. I mean, things like that are always out there -- I remember, when I was a kid, one or two kids died every summer from swimming in Florida lakes where they caught an amoebic infection. (I remember this mainly because, hypochondriac that I occasionally am, I was convinced in the seventh grade that I'd caught one myself.) But this sounds different, and I suppose it shouldn't be at all surprising given the amount of pollutants and runoff that get poured into the ever-warmer Gulf of Mexico. I'm with you on the assumption that cold, clear-running water is probably a better bet.

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    1. Maybe actually one kid every few years, re. the amoeba. It was very rare.

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  11. What a nice day by the water.

    Thank you for speaking up about corporal punishment.

    I once slapped my daughter when she was in hysterics about a wasp sting. For a second I felt that I did the right thing as she seemed about to have a fit. But believe me, I have relived and dreamt my way through this short moment often enough to see many alternatives.
    She was 8 and now she is in her 30s and we still talk about it. Sometimes teasingly, sometimes jokingly, mostly we are very rational and understanding, occasionally we are either or both of us sad about it.

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