Day Two: Happiness After All

Before I grew up wouldn't be the right way to begin this post. Let's just say.. before I turned 10 or 11, every single spring held this wonder. There were ruts in a dirt road on an undeveloped track behind my neighborhood that would fill with squirming black seeds with the rain. Tadpoles! When the hot weather would come, a neighbor would refresh the shallow puddles with distilled water to save the little swimmers from the scorching sun. Sometimes, if the weather was really terrible, he'd even bring the tadpoles in a little wading pool on his back patio, where I spent hours watching them sprout feet. I wanted to venture out today, since the rain should have been perfect for some good ol' frog breeding this summer, and I ran into a little neighbor boy. We can all just say that he wasn't so fond of the empty puddles, but was fascinated by snails! Before I 'grew up', those snails were the ones that kept tadpole water clean. Instead of seeing tadpoles this year, as I had promised, he saw the other part of the bowl. Is it just me that finds the excitement of a child not at all nostalgic, but able to bring out the child within still? I know I'm jealous of his brontosaurus t-shirt anyways!  ~Beth

After the rain, I found happiness in the smallest of wonders.  Raindrops pooled upon the Lupine leaves.  Daisies, a mere inch high, able to grow because the grass is overgrown.  Strawberry flowers.  A Buttercup.  Leaning back against a tree, imagining a life where a Dandelion is as big as a sunflower. ~ Paloma