Puddle Jumping

There's something about kids and puddles after the rain ... it's almost like the puddles beckon kids to jump in them and splash anyone else who is in the near vicinity. All three of my kids liked to jump in puddles when they were little, especially when they were wearing white sneakers. The whiter the sneakers and the muddier the puddle, the more they seemed mesmerized with jumping and splashing. I know I made a lot of mistakes in raising my three children, as do all parents I suppose. We are, after all, only human and therefore will always goof up from time to time. But, there was one thing as a mom that I think I was pretty good at ... for the most part, I was good at seizing the moments with my children. We went for bike rides around the neighborhood. We shot hoops when they came home from school. We went to midnight showings of movies. We went on vacation each summer. We baked and decorated sugar cookies at Christmas. We had water gun fights. We worked puzzles on the kitchen table. And after it rained ... we jumped in puddles and splashed and laughed and got our sneakers dirty and got mud on our legs and faces.

It's been stormy in Kansas City for the last few days, and this morning we had a gully washer downpour that lasted until around lunchtime. Later in the afternoon, though, the clouds cleared and the sun came out. By the time I left work to come home, it was hot and the humidity made it feel like a sauna when I stepped outside. After I ate dinner, I decided that it had cooled off enough that I could take Ollie the wiener dog for at least a short walk. While the streets and the sidewalks were completely dry, there are some low spots on the trail that take a while for the water to drain off after a hard rain. Because there was so much rain this morning, most of those spots were covered with giant puddles tonight ... really giant puddles.

For as much as my big dog Julie loves any kind of water ... puddles, creeks, ponds, lakes, bath water, the garden hose ... Ollie isn't too crazy about it, unless you count him jumping in the shower with me, I suppose. When we walk on the trail after a rain and there are puddles, Ollie goes out of his way to walk around the standing water. He also refuses to go outside to potty in the rain unless I hold an umbrella over him, and even then he raises his little paws and gives me a pitiful "How can you make me stand in this wet grass?" look. But back to tonight's walk and the puddles. As I watched Ollie make his way around puddle after puddle, I couldn't help but smile at his determination not to trudge through the water. If there was someone approaching on the path and he couldn't get around the puddle, he would stop in his tracks and wait until he could walk on dry pavement. And his plan was working well until ... until we came upon a spot in the trail that was more than just a puddle ... the water completely covered the trail, and I'm not talking just a trickle either ... it stretched from one side to the other, and it was at least two feet across.

Ollie saw the water before I did, and he didn't just stop ... he stopped and sat down. When I tugged on his leash and told him he was going to have to walk through this puddle, he laid down on the trail. I stood there for a few minutes trying to convince my wiener dog that I was mad at him ... he didn't believe me, probably because I couldn't stop grinning because he looked so cute laying on the pavement refusing to walk in the water. Eventually, I picked him up and carried him across the water, and he happily walked the rest of the way home ... dodging all the puddles along the way.

As we walked toward home, I began to think about the difference between Ollie and Julie when it comes to water. To Julie, every drop of water represents the opportunity to have fun ... to splash, to run, to jump, to swim ... while to Ollie, every drop of water represents fear and the need to find a way around it, even if that way around means simply refusing to move at all. Perspective, I thought, my dogs are teaching me about perspective. Crossing the street to go home, I realized that there are times when I see the puddles in life as things to be embraced and enjoyed, and I can't wait to jump in the water and get my feet wet. Other times, though, I see puddles and I'm overwhelmed with fear and dread, and I stop in my tracks and refuse to move. Perspective, I thought, it really is all about perspective.