You know all those times that your offspring made you wish the floor would open up and swallow you? Well, the time will come when you can reciprocate. And sometimes it is truly a serendipitous thing, absolutely unmeditated and quite wonderful.
I recall the incident of the panpipes. My youngest daughter, in her late teens at the time, and I had spent the afternoon with her older sister and children at Fort Edmonton. It was a lovely afternoon, and at one of the shops a set of wooden panpipes were purchased.
We were returning home but as a trip to the city doesn't really count as such unless one stops at Walmart we decided to hit the west end one on our way out of the city. It was my turn to drive, and dd took out the panpipes and futilely attempted to mimic Zamfir. She huffed and puffed for several blocks but nary a squeak came forth.
Eventually we came to a long stop light to make a left turn. You know the one. The one that takes sizeable portions out of your shopping time. I took the uncooperative instrument to give it a try, keeping a wary eye on the unchanging light the whole while. Well, between that and the fact that my enthusiastic attempts produced no more effect than hers did, I wasn't people watching.
But dd looked over, and the passenger in the car in the left turning lane was watching, mouth slightly agape as I gave it all I had. Then she began to laugh, and text, or so I was told. So I put the pathetic excuse for a musical instrument down and looked over. Sure enough, she was laughing. And telling her dad all about it.
By this time I was out of breath and sure the light would change, but still it held us back, giving the charming young lady time to text and continue being happy while my daughter shrunk to half her size and bemoaned the fact that fate had given her a mother who was so...well, you know...weird.
Eventually the neighbouring car turned left, as did we, as we both proceeded into the Walmart parking lot. I offered to park beside the happy girl and her father but my daughter forbade it.
I couldn't see why not. I'm sure the man wanted to thank me. The girl looked to be about thirteen years old and I am guessing it had been between 3 and 4 months since she had smiled.
Oh well.
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