Letting Go

All Frankie wants to do is walk.

I'm living with Forest Gump--if he walked instead of ran.

I love that she is walking because of the huge smile she so proudly wears on her face. I also love the look of determination in her eyes as she, in perfect Godzilla-form, stomps and crushes everything and anything in her way (including the new sunglasses that were out of the bag for exactly 13 seconds).

I also hate that she is walking because that's ALL she wants to do. It seems everytime I pick her up to smush her with kisses, she says "down." I don't even remember teaching her that word! I don't think I did. Do kids learn it by osmosis when they learn to walk? "Down." All the time--"Down." Well, I'm not so "down" with "down." I still want to hold her a little bit! Walking has trumped Mommy and Mommy don't like it.

A few days ago, early in the morning, I took Floyd Coden for a walk off camp grounds while Cody was in the cabin with Frankie. Floyd was with me, right next to me or very close to me, until he wasn't. I remember looking over to my left and he was gone. I didn't really panic because he knows his way around the area, but I was getting a little annoyed as I yelled, whistled and clapped for him, all the while envisioning myself waking several sleepy people due to the early hour. I weaved in and out of the front lawns lining the dirt road--planning all of the things I was going to say to him when we finally reunited--when lo and behold, a very vuluptuous female Golden Retriever came sauntering towards me with a very embarrassed Floyd Coden trailing slightly behind. Um Hmm. Floyd Coden may have been hanging his head in shame, but the truth of the matter was that he found himself a little early morning hootchie mama lovin'.

I was so ready to bust him out for blatantly ignorning my calls, but as I looked at his cute Floyd Coden face, with his golden girl right next to him, I just couldn't do it. Cady, with the red heart dog tag, was a cutie and I could tell she was into Floyd as she unabashadly sniffed his butt right in front of me. I just didn't have the heart to embarrass him so I let it go and instead settled for telling him-- out of the side of my mouth--that we would discuss his obvious defiance later. (And we did).

While we walked back to camp, I couldn't help but hope for a minute that walking doesn't lead Frankie and Floyd away from me... but I know at times it will. It will and it should. I just hope they know that they can come always come back.