Friday, December 29, 2006

Bubbles

At twenty months of age, littlest NephewsanTuna is starting to amass a decent vocabulary. Amongst his favorites is the word more, which, in normal use sounds more like moW. When he is fairly certain that we either haven't heard him or aren't doing moW fast enough, it turns into an emphatic two syllable word: moWAH. The WAH is an implied Now!Now!Now! which is simply too cute for words, especially when you're all of twenty months old.

Today at the east coast family gathering number two, NephewsanTuna was having a grand old time because his parents brought his bottle of bubbles!

BubbAW!!

moWAH?

BubbAW!!!

moWAH?

On and on and on it went. When the last bubble disappeared, all he had to do was say moWAH?? and we would send another stream into the sky. With each shower of bubbAWs!!! he would giggle and point and try to catch them. And I found it interesting that he never got upset when the bubbles all burst, because he knew that if he asked for moWAH?? we would bring the magic back again.

I'm not so sure most adults are bubble kind of people. After all, sometimes bubbles come out as one or two big ones, sometimes as a swarm of little ones, and sometimes, despite our best technique, it's a dud, and all we get is a wet face full of bubble juice. Bubbles are unpredictable at best, so when you ask for more you're never quite sure what it will bring.

When we want more, we we seldom ask. If we want it, we get it for ourselves, which allows us to craft our wants into exactly the shape we require them to be. No muss. No fuss. No surprises. Perfectly formed more bubbles to serve our purposes.

As our day ended, I couldn't help look around the room at everybody gathered. Children and parents, grandchildren and great grandchildren were all eating, laughing and sharing stories and presents. The gathered clan encompassed some 90 years, and to boast just a wee bit, I cannot help but admit, Damn, we looked mighty fine. As we all said our goodbyes, we kept saying, "June. We'll see you again in June."

Just like Nephewsan, we don't know exactly how it will happen, or what it will bring. The only thing we know for sure is that we want it again. Like bubbles, we'll accept the unpredictability as long as we can have the magic.

moWAH.

Please.

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