My day started out pretty shitty yesterday. After seeing a guy tossing live kittens out a car window in rush hour trafiic you are pretty much resigned to the fact that your day is blown. I went to the office, did an honest day's work, all the while with the image of man at his absolute lowest in my head. I just couldnt get that murderous bastard out of my head. And the fact that I wasnt able to catch the guy and beat the crap out of him pissed me off too. What a sorry excuse for a human being.
So I leave the office at the end of the day not really as ecstatic as I usually am on Fridays. I felt a bit icky being a part of the human race.
But I was saved.
My nieces brought my nephew Brandon over for some swimming lessons - they were more like not be afraid of the water lessons really. There's something about a little kid playing in a pool for the first or second time that just cleanses you. It's all so new to them, so pure. So free from all the pain and crap in the world that dulls us adults.
My niece Amanda, Brandon's mom, put on his little blue and yellow flowery swim trunks that she'd had for a while now. He looked like a little surfer dude, all he needed was a tan and a little surfboard. I inflated his little yellow life saver and we all just jumped in the pool.
Words cannot describe the fun Brandon had. He played squish ball, splashed around in the water and I pushed him around in his life saver going putputputputputputput. He was the captain of his boat, I was the engine. We did the one-two-three thing from outside the pool while releasing him into waiting hands of his mom or Titi in the water. He had a blast. He even went for a real boat ride in the canal with uncle Val and Pat the neighbor.
But for me however, the most beautiful part about the whole thing was that Brandon is the second generation that Ive done this with. I taught his mom how to swim. I taught his Titi how to swim. I did the exact same things with them so many years back. I was a teenager back then and I really didnt understand the beauty of the moment.
But I do now, and I am so grateful for it. Thank you Amanda. Thank you Titi Maura. And thank you Brandon for making me so proud to be your uncle. For being my family and for reminding me that there is so much good in man.
Posted by Val Prieto at June 26, 2004 07:58 AM |
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Tracked on June 30, 2004 10:12 AM
I know what you mean. I can be ready to call fire from Heaven, and then have an evening with my sobrinos and things aren't so bad anymore. I think God sends us those moments - especially after we have been violated by terrible things like you had to witness yesterday morning.
Posted by: JED at June 26, 2004 10:43 AM
Yes, more life-affirming posts like this one, please. :-)
--scott
Posted by: j.scott at June 26, 2004 11:36 AM
And the good's in you, man, and it shows, and it glows.
--Jerome
Posted by: Jerome du Bois at June 26, 2004 05:39 PM
Beautiful, Val. Makes me wish I had a niece or nephew to whom I could teach something.
I'm touched...
Posted by: Ivonne at June 26, 2004 06:53 PM
Glad I could brighten your day. Mommy says I do that very well because I'm her ray of sunshine.
But you forgot to tell everybody that I called you "tio", and that was the very first time I said that...
Posted by: Brandon at June 28, 2004 09:17 AM