I met the coolest girls last week. Wee One and I were at the zoo, waiting in line to go on a ride on a camel. (the first time either of us have gone on the camel ride) they were in about junior high, these two girls, and after a little while in line, they started talking to WO.
Suddenly WO said, the floor is lava! The girls immediately jumped up either on the curb or on the banister next to our line, getting their feet off the ground.
Then today, we were taking a walk and she was pretending to be the mom and leading me back to the house. I protested about wanting to go to the candy store, ice cream store, book store, whatever. We pretended to be at an ice cream store and as the neighbor boy came by on his bike, he stopped to get a pretend ice cream, too.
I am thinking about that today, about the playfulness and kindness of those kids, and I feel hopeful.