Somewhere over the Rainbow

There was an Ice Cream social at the church tonight. After a quick dinner, I took the girls by myself to give Yayoi the night off. The church is on the corner from us, an easy walk on a pleasant summer evening like this. I attached the Buggy Board to the stroller, and the three of us walked to the church.

We could see the Bouncy Bounce on the front grassy knoll as we approached from down the block. I stopped the stroller and the girls darted off so they could arrive faster rather than enduring the ride on the stroller over the grass for the last fifty yards.

I talked with a recent friend that I had made in town for most of the night. His older child was starting school at Yuna's elementary school in the Fall, and we were talking about schools and teachers and the experience of having your child start school for the first time.

The Ice Cream Social was wrapping up, and the crowd began to thin. I had to tip the Giant Rubbermaid  lemonade cooler for several children who had been unsuccessfully trying get the last few drops.

My girls and my friend's family and one other family that I did not know decided to move to the church playground. The light was beginning to thin and the Bouncy House was down, the ice cream put away. But the children were determined to enjoy the last bits of the evening in each other's company, expending energy running around and climbing in joy.

We were typically the among the last families to leave any given event, not unlike the children looking to get the last few drops of the sugary lemonade from the almost empty cooler. I would see who the likewise minded souls were as the crowd began to thin, and people would start putting chairs away and picking up trash. It was like a fog slowly lifting over San Francisco Bay, revealing the beautiful houses built into the hillside. I would often help put the chairs away or join in the clean up crew.

It was now almost completely dark, and the three families decided that the best exit strategy was to leave together simultaneously. That way, it would be clear to the children that there was no point in asking to stay any longer, and there was no more "play" to be had in a empty and dark playground. It worked, and as the other two families loaded their children in their cars, I scooted out with my two girls in the stroller, Yuna riding on the Buggy Board behind me.

Yuna started to sing Somewhere over the Rainbow as we hurried home on the bumpy sidewalk. She had been attending a week long drama camp, and there were many songs she was learning for a Friday performance at the end of the week. Her singing was so beautiful, unadorned, unselfconscious and pure. To her, it was the most natural way to wrap up her evening, in the fading sunlight, zooming home on the stoller pushed by her father, to practice the songs for her performance.

Dream: Leaning House

I dreamt that my house was leaning. My house in real life is very old and indeed does have myriad problems, but nothing quite so serious in nature as this. The lean was causing the finishes and other layers to start peeling off and fall, and the structural connections were visible from where I stood on the ground, in some cases.

I became extremely worried and went into the house to seek counsel with a wiser, older architect, This middle aged lady that I found in the house told me that there were ways to pushing at the connections with certain equipment, and this would bring the house back in alignment. I thought to myself that this sounded like a very expensive repair.

When I was outside, I noticed that there was a Kindergarten or some sort of children's school next door to me. There was a group of children wearing uniforms sitting around in a circle. One child was off in the corner of the yard, oblivious to the activities of her class, off in her own little world.

There was a electrical source outside the house in the corner. Upon inspecting it with my two companions, one of them concluded that it was not working and that he should have been informed about this earlier.

I was hungry and found three bite sized snacks in my car for myself and my two companions: Halloween sized Kit Kat, Mars Bar, and Twix. I decided to choose first, and told my companions that I will be having half of the Kit Kat, and either the Mars Bar or the Twix (which now I am realizing comprises entirely half of the available snacks, not a third).