Little Things

Today I had to work a pool party. The pool had been rented out by a church to try to reach kids in the area and get them to attend church on Sundays. I normally like to work pool parties, but today I was not amused. I had other plans that I didn't know about until after I had been scheduled to work. The other plans were me going to see my cousin and her group present on their trip to Cambodia. I did go for about 15 minutes but then I had to rush off to work. When I arrived on job it was kind of frantic as someone decided not to show and we were a lifeguard short. Things were figured out and I headed to my favorite stand, stand two. Stand two is the top of the slides. I enjoy this stand as all you have to do is tell people if they can or can't go and if there really isn't a chance of you having to rescue anyone. The slides and the diving boards are really popular so it was pretty crowded; a constant stream of people climbing the two flights of stairs, waiting in line, sliding down, and doing it again. "You can go now," I said time and time again. For just a few moments I found myself alone, the sun was setting and the sky was beautiful. Soon I saw why there was no line, it was making itself up the stairs. A boy (he was nine and a half) with his father were in the lead and traveling quite slow, but no one seemed to care. As they reached the top I saw why the journey up around 20 steps had taken so long, one of the boy's legs was bowed and so he couldn't walk without support. I didn't stare but I really wanted to tell him how proud I was of him for climbing up all those stairs by himself. His father asked me if they could ride down together, a privilege allowed to parents with young children, and I couldn't say no. He sat his son down and then took a seat behind him. I nodded my head, letting him know that they could go. Laying down is the fastest way to travel down the slide, but with the two of them they had to sit. This made them travel down the slide quite slow. I know I don't like going down the slides slow, but as the boy came around the first corner his face was beaming. He was squealing and giggling with joy the rest of the short trip down to the water. I felt tears coming to my eyes. Twice more the scenario I just described played out. On his third and last trip the people in line behind him were cheering him on.

Something as little such as going down a water slide brought him so much joy. To me going down those slides is something I do almost everyday that I work. To me walking around with out leaning on someone or using special crutches is not a big deal, but to him it would have been. I've heard the saying, 'Take joy in the little things, because to someone else it's big.' A nine year old really taught me that today.