Out of all the activities I remember from my childhood, bubble blowing is one of my favorite memories. Mom and Dad's house had this crazy series of porches on the back of the house, almost like tiers of concrete and railing that descended from the back kitchen door down to the back yard. Let's see if I can recall ... there were six or seven porches altogether I think. And the little porch that led out from the kitchen was almost level with the roof of the garage ... I know it sounds weird, but that's really the way it was. Kids will always be kids, so my friends and I figured out in a hurry that we could climb over the rail and get on the garage roof.
In the summer, we would lie on our backs, gaze at the stars and talk for hours. In the fall when the leaves fell from the trees, we would snuggle in blankets and watch movies on the big screen of the Red Bank Drive-In at the bottom of the hill ... it never seemed to bother us that we couldn't hear the words; in fact, we often made up our own stories to go with the films. And no matter what season it was, we would sit on the edge of the roof, hang our feet over the side and blow bubbles ... you know ... the little bottles of bubbles with the tiny plastic wands. We would have contests to see who could blow the biggest bubble or the most bubbles in one breath. We would have bubble races to see whose bubbles reached the ground below us the fastest. We would watch in wonder as the bubbles floated on the breeze and glistened in the sun's rays. I know it probably sounds boring to many of you, but it was fun ... pure and simple fun.
A few weeks ago, I decided that it was time to get rid of some of the stuff I've accumulated over the years, so I've been spending time each evening and on the weekends sorting through things and giving them away. Last night, I decided to tackle one of the cabinets next to the stove in my kitchen, and guess ... just guess what I found? Yep, four bottles of bubbles. I have no idea how long those bubbles have been in the cabinet, but I'm sure they've been hiding away in there for more than a few years since I'm certain they once belonged to my children. My first thought as I pulled them out and placed them on the floor next to where I was sitting was that I would pitch them in the trash, assuming they wouldn't work any longer. But when I finished with the cabinet and stood up from the floor, something came over me and I opened the lid to one of the bottles and fished the little wand from inside. I walked into the living room where Julie and Ollie were wrestling, and I puffed on the wand. I was amazed to see a stream of little bubbles quickly fly from the wand ... I guess bubbles don't have an expiration date, huh?
For those of you who don't have dogs, you should, but that's another blog for another time. If you've never witnessed dogs playing with bubbles, you are totally missing out on some good, wholesome fun. I won't tell you how long I stood in my living room blowing bubbles for my dogs to chase and pounce on and try to eat and pop with their paws, but suffice it to say that I used up almost two bottles of the antique bubbles I had found in the cabinet. Ollie has only lived with me and Julie since March, and I don't know much about his life before he came to our house other than the fact that he was abused and almost starved to death. When I first began blowing the bubbles last night, Ollie went crazy ... running around in circles, barking at the tiny spheres, wagging his tail as hard as it would wag, even shaking because he was so excited by our new game. I would say his crash course in bubbles was a raging success.
It struck me as I watched my dogs play ... they live a very simple life. They sleep and eat and play. I suppose the hardest thing they do all day is wait for me to come home after work. And here's the thing ... they love to sleep and eat and play. They love me and they love each other. They don't have to think about or decide on those things ... those things are just part of their nature, of who they are, of what they were born to do. I've said it before ... I think we as humans would do well to behave as our dogs do ... to live simply ... to find the joy in small things ... to love completely and unconditionally.
So here's to bubble blowing and playing pups ... I think maybe I should buy another bottle or two of those bubbles. For the dogs, of course ... for the dogs.
No comments:
Post a Comment