Pumpkins Washing the Car

On the weekend of Nov. 10 & 11 we were going to go canoeing (the next post will actually be about the boat ride), but we hit obstacles at every turn. We had loaned the paddles out, then we'd remembered we also loaned the life jackets out. So we didn't get to go canoeing on Saturday. We moved it to Friday and we persevered. Lea and I however, made the best of our unexpected day together with beautiful weather. We washed the car. Lea had a lot of fun sudsing up the car and rinsing it off. And I love this picture with the light hitting the water.

To help Lea understand that things don't always go the way you plan I told Lea a version of a story about "being the pumpkin." A phrase my mom came up with way back 10 years ago when she had cancer. The story, as told to Lea, has evolved into this:
Once upon a time there was a large truck of pumpkins going to the happy pumpkin place. But the monkey driving the truck, ran off a bridge and all the pumpkins fell into the water. SPLASH! Now some pumpkins knew that they were supposed to go the happy pumpkin place and did everything they could to keep their plans the same. They twisted this way and turned that. They fought the rivers current at every turn and crashed into rocks. SMASH! They were squashed unhappy pumpkins. But some pumpkins knew that things don't always go the way you plan, so they bob, bob, bobbed down the river, going with the flow. Those pumpkins floated peacefully down the river until they came to a river bank filled with boys and girls who loved pumpkins. Those boys and girls fished the pumpkins out of the river and gave the pumpkins very good pumpkin homes. Those pumpkins knew that even though they didn't end up where they planned to be, the ended up where they were meant to be. And that is why we must be the pumpkin in the river.

Tell the story again Mommy!