Pool Toys

I love pool toys floating around the pool.

Mr. Walrus is left over from the welcome home party.
He got much use; however, he is quite difficult to ride.
When the children were small, but not too small,
for I was terrified of them drowning, every summer
we would trek to the grocery store to purchase
large, colorful balls that were displayed in a tall wire bin.
Everyone would get a different color for easy identification.

We would have races in the pool, riding the beach balls
as if they were wild broncos, splashing and shouting
in the voice of Heimlich from A Bug's Life,
"I am a beautiful butterfly."
"But I AM flying."

The balls were left in the pool all summer
to float about on their own.
They would gather together in a little group
at the far end of the pool.
During storms they would chase about the pool the way
that horses run in a pasture when the wind picks up.

Some days I miss watching horses run,
hearing their whinnies,
feeling the pounding of their hooves
on the earth so hard that it would vibrate in my chest.
Some days I miss colorful balls floating in the pool.

This motherhood thing can be bittersweet.
Just when I get good at it,
they're all grown up.

Today Mr. Walrus makes me happy
with memories playing in my mind like an old movie.

Here's the best part:
I don't have to try to put him down for a nap.