Journal 4.20

Old guys are awesome! (No comments from the peanut gallery, please) So I and H went to Subway and we took it to this park H knew about, because we bet dinner and I won, so I got to go out for din-din. After we ate, in the grass, it was so cool, and threw our trash in the can (Kids, don't litter), we went to the swings. I love the swings. And H loves the swings too. And this, oh, 7 year old girl joined us and we all were talking about different tricks, and then we moved to the slide, and then me and H got on the kiddie teeter-totter, and the kid stood on the fulcrum, (or some other physics word like that) and we just seesawed for a long time. So there's the background. Now for the story.

So there was this old couple and another old lady walking through the park, talking. The two ladies sat on a bench and talked quietly, and the old guy, bored out of his mind, watched the kids (and us) play. He walked over to a mini bouncy thing and nudged it a little with his foot, and just watched. After a good ten minutes, the ladies are still talking, we're still seesawing, and he's still bored. And then he goes for the swings. He sits down, a little gleam in his eye, and starts pumping. I watched him openly, smiling my young encouragement at this beautiful moment. You could tell he knew how to handle a swing. I didn't take him long at all to get some height, even with the limitations his body had. H was listening to the kid, and didn't notice this at all. After maybe a dozen pumps and four feet of air, he gets his wife's attention. Both ladies watch a moment, while he sits there, swinging with that rebellious look in his eye, until one says, "Boys will play." I have to say, I was a little hurt by that. It was condescending, the way she said it, and she called him a boy, and she totally put down his behavior as embarressing to one his age. He slowed, and got off, but he still had that look in his eye, so I knew he was getting off because he was embarressing his wife and not because he was embarressed. Throughout the whole episode, I tried to let my body language say, "Dude! You are so cool for doing that!" and I think he got the message. He did all but wink at me as he climbed off the swing and walk off the play area.