Yesterday, I worked for 3 hours at my part time job at my friend's house. After work, I picked up my granddaughters at their schools and kept them till my daughter got home from work. I made hamburgers for supper.
About 6:30, I took the two older grandkids to an after-school skating party. The school has these parties several times a year to raise funds for the PTA. The kids missed the last two parties so I wanted them to go to this one. I played with the idea of dropping them off, but in the end I stayed. I'm glad.
Even in the crowded rink, they kept finding me. They would take a bite of pizza or a get a drink and take off again. Jill found a friend and skated around and around. At first she stayed near the edge, but gradually worked her way to the center of the rink. We paid extra to get Jonah in-line skates, but he mostly stayed on the carpeted area and played different games with his friends.
They both got mountains of tickets from the games that would have meant a windfall at a casino. Jonah got a plastic hockey stick and ball with his tickets. Jill got oversized pink sunglasses. I saw many people I knew from school and enjoyed the upbeat music and flashing lights. There were families with very small children who had devices made of PVC pipes to help them balance. Some kids could do tricks with the devices - even the very little ones. I found myself with a permanent grin on my face.
I never learned to skate when I was young. It looks like so much fun. For my family to get together after a long day's work and go out to take the kids skating was unheard of. Once in a while, we could get my father to drive to the Sonic for a cheeseburger, but that wasn't very often.
About 7:30 all the lights went out and the kids had fun skating around in the dark with glow sticks and flashing colored lights. By 8:00 the party was over and we started home. Jonah went to his house and Jill stayed at mine. She tumbled into bed and went to sleep very quickly. I confess I did the same.
This morning it was "Field Day" at school and they wore shorts and brought drinks for a full day of athletic events. As Jonah shlumped out to the car with his book bag, I yelled, "Step it up! It's Field Day! Hooray!" For once, he rewarded me with a grin instead of pretending to be bored with my jokes.
After school, I gathered up the girls and we got our Friday night pizzas. One for Jaime's house and one for mine. It has been a happy day.
