Blogging warps your reality. I'm convinced of it. I'm often looking for material to write about, cute pictures to take. This Sunday was a classic. Their school had their big Spring Fair where they bring in inflatable rides and every class in the huge New York public school sponsors a booth. Chet remembered the epic squirt gun fight from last year. He'd won a tiny little squirt gun shooting hoops but he was no match for the kids armed with supersoakers. So this year he pestered me into buying him this monstrous, pump-action supersoaker and he wore his matching Lycra swimming body suit under his clothes.
When we got there the squirt gun war hadn't started yet so we ambled through the fair. The biggest hit was the dunking booth but since it was about 80 that day the line to get dunked was twice as long as the line to dunk. It was when Chet got in the dunking line that I remembered that I'd forgotten my spiffy digital camera (again!). Ava was lined up to hurl the baseball to dunk him. Chet jiggled with uncontrollable excitement. He lept and capered like a leprechaun. What could be cuter! I tried to reconcile myself to the fact that I'd screwed up big time and just enjoy the moment. Everyone was squealing with delight every time the ball hit the bull's eye and another kid dropped into the tank. Finally it was Chet's turn and Ava got ready to throw. Baseball isn't her best sport but she gave it a good shot and actually hit the target but not hard enough to trigger the fall. I protested and asked if she could just hit it with her hand and the nice volunteering moms said yes.
That's when Chet started to freak. "The water's too cold!" he howled. He desperately scrambled to get out of the tank, clinging to the side like a rat fallen into a pot. The big kid working the dunker hauled him out. Maybe it was just me but everybody seemed suddenly sad for the poor little kid stuck in the big plastic tube.
Bad dad (again). There I was trying to pre-program some supposedly priceless moment instead of just living in the moment. Luckily, however, he soon was smiling again, the water war had begun and he had some of the heaviest firepower out there.
Have you ever tried to create a Kodak moment that blew up in your face?
