The Beach, Two Boys, and a Boat
It felt like recess. A day off from work. The first day of summer vacation!
It was Thursday in Mish, and we were cruising! Actually we were going to the beach. The BEACH!!! With dozens of children!
We had been blessed with extraordinarily wonderful weather all week. Twenty nine degrees Celsius was the average temperature, with blue and sunny skies.
Our team had kept the children busy with many fun activities all week, but the beach felt like a special treat as the week was winding towards the end.
Most of the children just came in the clothes they had put on in the morning. A few had brought bathing trunks and towels.
One little boy's mom was there to see him off and she told me he couldn't swim. His name was Charlie, and I promised her that I would not let him out of my sight.
The beach was 8 kilometers out of Mish, and accessed by way of a winding road that branched off from the main road and ran through the community cemetery.
Several carloads of kids and adults had already arrived ahead of me. I found the steep and narrow, sandy path down to the beach through a break in the bushes.
Down below the beach and the sparkling lake were filled with children and adults at play; shouts and laughter floated up to greet me as I slid my way down.
I watched over Charlie, and another smaller boy named Mark, who arrived tightly clutching a little boat with a Lego man inside it, which I persuaded him to let me hold for safekeeping.
"Can I play with the boat?" Charlie asked.
"You'll have to ask Mark," I said, "It's his boat."
Charlie turned to Mark, "Can I play with your boat?"
"Okay," Mark said.
And while on the rest of the beach an uproarious party went on, in our corner of the world, two boys played quietly and contentedly with a boat.
The Lego man eventually went back into the boat, a little later I noticed that Mark didn't have the boat anymore. "Where is the boat?" I asked.
"In the water," he said. The boat had been played with without any possessiveness. Now it was gone. And no one was upset.
The sun kissed our limbs with heat. We broke into the cooler of Freezies. All was well in our world of simple and profound joy.
It was Thursday in Mish, and we were cruising! Actually we were going to the beach. The BEACH!!! With dozens of children!
We had been blessed with extraordinarily wonderful weather all week. Twenty nine degrees Celsius was the average temperature, with blue and sunny skies.
Our team had kept the children busy with many fun activities all week, but the beach felt like a special treat as the week was winding towards the end.
Most of the children just came in the clothes they had put on in the morning. A few had brought bathing trunks and towels.
One little boy's mom was there to see him off and she told me he couldn't swim. His name was Charlie, and I promised her that I would not let him out of my sight.
The beach was 8 kilometers out of Mish, and accessed by way of a winding road that branched off from the main road and ran through the community cemetery.
Several carloads of kids and adults had already arrived ahead of me. I found the steep and narrow, sandy path down to the beach through a break in the bushes.
"Can I play with the boat?" Charlie asked.
"You'll have to ask Mark," I said, "It's his boat."
Charlie turned to Mark, "Can I play with your boat?"
"Okay," Mark said.
And while on the rest of the beach an uproarious party went on, in our corner of the world, two boys played quietly and contentedly with a boat.The Lego man eventually went back into the boat, a little later I noticed that Mark didn't have the boat anymore. "Where is the boat?" I asked.
"In the water," he said. The boat had been played with without any possessiveness. Now it was gone. And no one was upset.
The sun kissed our limbs with heat. We broke into the cooler of Freezies. All was well in our world of simple and profound joy.
Comments