Noah and Blakely were in town the other night. They are Chase’s kids and my girls love to hang out with them. Hadley was at a dance practice, but Elle wanted to pick up the kids and go to the park. So, we did. As they were piling in the car Blakely, who is four, asked Grandma Red, “How come you are so old?” 

That caught Grandma Red by surprise, “Well, if I weren’t so old, I wouldn’t be here. So, I’m glad
I’m old.”

After pondering that for a minute, Blakely replied, “OK.” 

We pulled into the parking area and the kids were off. They played for about an hour…running, climbing, swinging, jumping. Not once running to us in a dither over anything. Grandma Red and I visited, watched them play and when the sun started to go down, decided we better round them up and head for home.

They had moved from the playground to the volleyball pit and were digging in the sand. Another little girl had joined them, and Blakely told me her new friend’s name. Then she said, “Can’t we stay yus a yiddle bit yonger?” It took me a minute to translate that, but I told her we had to go. The whine started but I reminded her if there was whining, we wouldn’t be able to come again for a long time. They all headed for the car. As we were pulling out, Blakie’s new friend came to wave good-bye. 

That night I was reading the news about the ongoing struggle in Iran. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could build an environment like the playground for the world? More of us would live to be old, we could connect with new friends and ask to stay yus a yiddle bit yonger. That would be a really Good Life!