Snoggers in the Park

I help my granddaughter into the swing facing away from the young couple snogging on the park bench. Mostly, I have my back to them while I’m pushing her. Fourteen, maybe fifteen... they’re right on schedule hormonally. It’s sweet to watch, but they deserve as much privacy as making-out on a park bench in a busy park can allow. They’re in full sun now. Legs scrambled. I wonder how long they’ve been at it. 

They seem to stop their tongue probe explorations of one another’s dental details and smile, while listening to me sing to D, “How do you like to go up in a swing, up in the air so blue? Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing ever a child can do...” by Robert Louis Stevenson. I wonder what they’re thinking. I imagine that biological imperative has them spinning futures of endless love, kids and grand kiddles. Although, come to think of it, at 15, certainly, I was NOT thinking about grand kids or children for that matter - only SEX!

Mostly, it’s young moms or nannies with young kids filling the redwood-rimmed play areas - my husband and young make-out man being the only males past the age of five.

We observe, with some pride, how socially adept our daughter’s daughter is. She comes up to a young one of similar age and says,

“Hi, my name is D. What’s yours?” and off they run to pretend all sorts of imaginative scenarios.

Her most recent triumph is learning to PUMP on the swings to keep herself going and to soar away from gravity’s reach. Mercifully, she allows us the grandparental privilege of pushing. She appreciates her Gran'Pun's bubble wand at the ready so she can pop them with her pumping feet.

Hard work - this making sense of the world through play. 

Hard work - this making sense of sensuality, mysterious urges and how to kiss. 

Someone’s gotta do it! I'm glad the job is covered today by this snoggerific couple in the park.

My appreciation for the grace of time that got me through all those hard-work stages of life is boundless; HOW I made it through without more collateral damage shrouded in mystery.