Tuesday, July 10, 2007



Wall Drug Revisited...

When driving through western South Dakota, one simply must stop at Wall Drug. And we stop every time we go see grandma. And Thomas gets soaked every time we stop.

This year we took a change of clothes in a bag, because I knew he'd get all wet. Heck, it was about 100 the day we went -- it felt good for him to cool off.

What was very interesting was watching passersby. All the children looked at Thomas longingly, wishing they could go get wet. Their parents wouldn't let them.

All the parents gave Thomas the evil eye. I sat back far enough trying to hide so I could make my observations. When a parent did figure out I was the mom, I got a dirty look!

The grandparents/older generation were the most fun to watch. They all laughed. One couple sat down and watched Thomas play. All the "older" generation could appreciate Thomas having fun.

Yup, the parents were the uptight bunch. I take great pride in the fact that I don't fit in, that I think out of the box, and that I let Thomas get soaking wet on a hot day. I march to the beat of my own drummer. Perhaps that's why homeschooling is such a great fit for us??!!!

In all fairness, Thomas got this wet last year, too, and he had a pretty miserable ride out of Wall. Jean shorts are uncomfortable when wet. But he survived and talked about it all year long. It's called happy memories, freedom to be.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

WAIT, WAIT, You mean my boys missed getting all wet last year at Wall!!! Where in Wall Drug is there a place for the kids to get all wet? They would love it, and I would have been snapping pictures too, and grinning as they had fun. Heck, I'd probable join them!

Do tell, cause Wall is on next summer's agenda.

Becky said...

What fun!

And what a bunch of party poopers! Though maybe they were just jealous they didn't bring a change of clothes for their kids lol.

Elisheva Hannah Levin said...

What kind of hair do those other parents have up their...well, you know!

When I was getting my undergraduate degree in Geology, we did our summer field camp at South Dakota Tech. On the way, we stopped at Wall Drug. First we had a buffalo burger and then we--big old college students--got wet.
We did have a change of clothes, though. We had been warned.