Going With the Flow

A recent flop of a weekend reminded me why it's best to just let things unfold as they may instead of trying to orchestrate the perfect moment.  Normally planning is not my thing.  I don't really do it.  I'm not even good at it.  Your dad is the "man with the plan" and I'm the one constantly wants to drop everything and hit the beach when I see that the sunset is going to be particularly epic.  Over the years your dad has loosened up and gotten better about being spontaneous, and especially good about handling situations when things don't turn out the way he expected.  I, on the other hand, haven't learned a bit about planning.  If anything, I am more of a procrastinator than ever.  But every once in a while I dream up a scenario in my head and set out to recreate it in real life.  This type of motivation is, of course, doomed to failure from the word "go."

Putting on your hat for a stroll around the lake.

Usually our weekends are pretty easy going.  We try not to schedule much so that we can sleep in, enjoy the outdoors and get a few things accomplished.  But we had an unusually warm start to the winter this year.  It was warm enough to seek out water...too cold for the beach or pool still, but just right for splash parks.  The warmth had me itching to spend as much time outside as possible, realizing that soon it would be too hot to enjoy.  For some reason I was determined to get you to a park with a splash pad (there are plenty) and make some memories.  Once summer is in full force, not even a concrete slab full of sprayers can shake the heat.  But for now it was just what the doctor ordered.

You look as disappointed as I felt.

Still, it was a beautiful day.

We made up for it with a produce stand visit and a shared smoothie.

As it turned out, I also needed to pick up a beach permit at the park.  So on a particularly warm Friday, I packed you in the car with a swimsuit, sunscreen, shades...typical Floridian paraphernalia...and drove to the park (at the far end of town) specifically for their massive water area.  I pictured the scenario: your reaction to being splashed, the water beading on your skin from the sunscreen, the possibility that you may get a surprise, direct hit to the face.  I imagined the photos I could capture, and used this to justify the extra gas I was using just to go all the way out there.

From your swing you had the perfect view of the water par we were supposed to be playing on.

Imagine my surprise when we showed up to find it was closed.  Why hadn't this possibility occurred to me?  Admittedly, this is pretty much my sort of luck, but in that moment it almost felt like a conspiracy.  I was disappointed, but we made the most of the day anyway.  And it wasn't a complete wash...we did get our parking pass.  The park staff insisted that the water would be running again before the end of the day, and so I began hatching a plan to return with the whole family.  Still determined to find water, we did in fact head out to a much closer playground after Sydney got off the bus.  We hung out until almost sunset, and it was pretty much perfect.  Even better than what I had "planned" because we got to take Sydney along.  So much for my conspiracy theories!

Water!

She was a happy girl.

You were mighty brave.

I got what I was looking for...water beading up on your sunscreened skin.

You even got splashed in the face without so much as a tear.

I think we wore you out.

Time to go.

 Call me a glutton for punishment, but I still insisted on planning a family picnic at the first water park for the next day.  We packed  up some barbecue necessities and promised you girls a splash park.  We drove clear across town again, only to find that- you guessed it- it was still closed.  This time I take the blame.  I really should have called.  We still enjoyed some beautiful weather and barbecued by the lake, but we probably looked a little silly toting around beach towels and swimsuits.  Conspiracy: 2  Me:0.

You don't look so thrilled about the way this was turning out.

Familiar story...walking around the lake instead of splashing in the water.

At least the sun was nice enough to put on a little show as it set.

In order to salvage the weekend from certain doom, I decided to plan yet another family outing.  Apparently, I'm not quick to catch on.  We decided to try out a new restaurant downtown for lunch.  It's a cute little open-air joint in Dockside Boardwalk, on Naples Bay.  I know what you're thinking.  We headed downtown...in season...and expected it to go well.  I have no defense.  You see, I was still seeking water.  It's within walking distance of our favorite park, Cambier.  And there are a few sprayers there.  Perfect...outdoor play, hot weather, water, outdoor dining...what could go wrong?  Plus, I'd made a promise to Sydney that she could be a street musician for a day.  I'm not sure where she gets these ideas from, but she was determined to play her guitar and have an upside-down hat for tips, in hopes of donating her proceeds to an orphanage.  How could I say no?  So I packed her guitar, a hat and a quilt in the car.  You and I made our way downtown only to find the entire area surrounding the park clogged with tourists.  The city was holding an obnoxiously large art show at Cambier.  Needless to say, we parked a good 8 blocks from the restaurant, there was no water play, and certainly no street musician performance.  Sydney didn't even make it to the playground, the rest of the family just met us for lunch (not that I could blame them).  Conspiracy theories abound.  I'm not saying it was a bad day.  Far from it.  Lunch was enjoyable, you girls got to browse like tourists, and there was a 15 minute stint at the playground for you and I.  It didn't turn out like I had imagined, but that's just what I get for expecting so much out of one day.  And in case you're keeping score, that's 3 for the Conspiracy and a big old goose egg for me.

You love swings!

Family lunches.

Being tourists.

Shell-hunting.

Found some!

And just like that, I reminded myself why it's so much better to just wait and see what the weekends have in store for us, rather than insisting on scheduling our weekends to death.  The truth is that trying to create a "moment" never results in ones so magical as the ones that just happen.  I know this, but sometimes we all need a reminder.  I think I'll let daddy handle the plans from here on out and I'll stick to going with the flow.

Heart-shaped leaf.  It's a sign that we ended up where we belonged.