Stories from the Stringam Family Ranches of Southern Alberta

From the 50s and 60s to today . . .



Friday, January 24, 2014

Lava Love

“Gaahh! Mom! You’re standing in the lava!”
Mom and Dad had taken us kids to see the movie ‘Krakatoa, East of Java’.
(Okay, yes, I know that the title is geographically incorrect, but that was what it was called.)
It had scared me to death. All my young, six-year-old mind could think of after that was trying to get away from the slowly-flowing river of death.
And my favourite game became the daring deathwalk over precariously-placed pillows across the lava lake that was the front room.
I was at it again.
And Mom wasn’t cooperating.
“Oops! Sorry!” Mom jumped lightly onto the closest pillow.
Whew! That was close! I didn’t have a lot of Moms to spare. I’d sure hate to lose this one.
For hours, my brother and I made up scenarios that necessitated leaping back and forth across the pillows and landing, temporarily safe, on the couch or coffee table.
It was fun.
And we never got burned even once.
Nimble kids that we were.
Fast forward a few years . . .
My kids were downstairs playing.
I went to check on them.
They had pillows placed at strategic intervals across the family room floor.
“Careful, Mom! Don’t step in the lava!”
Now where did they get that idea?
The déjà vu was frightening.
And, moving forward again - a lot of years . . .
Yesterday, my daughter and I were visiting in the front room, seated comfortably in recliners.
Her daughter and another granddaughter were playing.
They had been through the toy box.
And had graduated to hiding under piles of cushions on the couch.
Giggling.
A few minutes went by.
“Careful!” the three-year-old said.
I turned to see what they were doing.
They had set the cushions out across the floor in a line and were hopping back and forth along them.
“Stay on the bridge!” the three-year-old cautioned. “Don’t get hurt!”
The two-year old jumped off the last cushion and onto the floor.
“Gaahh!” my daughter and I said together. “You’re stepping in the lava!”
Okay, now I see where it comes from . . .

27 comments:

  1. Reminds me of my daughter playing shipwreck and sitting on the couch with her feet carefully tucked up and every toy she owned sharing the space with her. Imagination is a wonderful thing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. When the bridge leaves the lava and arches over the rocky chasms below, you especially have to be careful of the trolls that live under the bridge . . .

    Imagination is everything!

    Anonymous Child-terrorizing Troll-grandpa

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep. That Troll-Grandpa. You really have to watch out for him!

      Delete
  3. Hee hee. Yeah. It didn't take them long to graduate from hopping to running...

    ReplyDelete
  4. I can just see it! And hear it :)

    Truly, aren't kids happiest when they're pretending?

    ReplyDelete
  5. I frequently pretend I'm stuck in a hot-air balloon that will never come down with George Clooney. Sometimes my husband's in there too. Love you Henry!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh, this post gave me chills, Diane! I just love the things that tie us together across the generations. Truly some of my favorite posts! Thank you for sharing this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much, Rachel! I call them circle stories - because they bring us full circle. And they are my favourites, too!

      Delete
  7. I just love these moments, when my kids do something that just transports me back to when I was young. They always make me smile.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Isn't it amazing how something can trigger such powerful memories? And quite suddenly, you're four years old again . . .

      Delete
  8. This is AWESOME! I played the lava river game with my own son. Perhaps some innate way we reinforce our survivor instincts? Or, it's just a really fun game!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hmm . . . the very first 'Survivor'? And it is such a fun game!

      Delete
  9. If that doesn't show us that live goes on, I'm not sure what does. Generations of adventurers in the making. :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. I remember doing the SAME thing when I was little….and then my kids did it, too!

    ReplyDelete
  11. This was a great post as I recall leaping on pillows too and now my children do the same thing and fort building is always a hit also with cushions and blankets :-)

    ReplyDelete
  12. This is something we never did, I don't think we ever saw any lava containing movies. We saw plenty of westerns and played cowboys and indians a lot, with sheets draped over tree branches to make tents.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I love when our kids mimic the fun games we played... it seemed we had so much imagination ... it's nice to know our children are using there's as well :)

    ReplyDelete

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