Day 72

Hypothermia and unexpected house guests.

As you already know, Sunday is a leisurely day here and the first Sunday of the month is even more sedate yet.  May Day I believe it was.  That being the case, no public transit would run its usual course and the Centre Ville would be a bustle of activity.  We didn't venture out as we would be hosting my son's Australian pal for the afternoon.  No sooner did we collect him and return to our home, our phone rang.  Very few folks call our home phone, so we had a hunch who it might be.  Our American friends who are very kind in keep us in tune with the pulse of the city and the upcoming cultural events.  I really appreciate it.  It is nice to find out about events throughout the city and have a chance to partake in them as they occur rather than finding out about them after the fact.

This call was different though . . . an inquiry.  Would it be ok if their teenage boy came over to our house just to hang out?  The answer . . . ABSOLUTELY!  As I mentioned in my prior comments, we have a youthful approach to our lives and our door is always open to any young person who wants to just hangout for the day or join us in whatever activity we have planned for the day.  I don't know the French version of the sentiment, but in Spanish it goes something like Mi Casa es Su Casa.  Likely something like Mon Maison est Tu Maison in French.  A poor translation at best, but I trust you know what it means.  It means that all are welcome guests in our home and formality is not needed.  They come in and are treated as one of our own.  Our cupboards are their cupboards and our refrigerator is their refrigerator.

Soon he would arrive and in our custom he busied himself in the Kitchen making himself a snack on the stove.  Soon all the lads were busy playing video games and telling lies.  They all coexisted together in harmony and found a rhythm all their own to make the crowded quarters work.  Soon, however, the afternoon would take a turn for the worse.  My eldest boy has been dying to christen the pool and this would be the day he decided to take the plunge.  Now, the weather has turned quite warm here, but perhaps not to the degree that would increase the water temperature to a tolerable range.  What the three older boys want to do, the youngest is of course game for.  This would require an adult to supervise and in an unspoken match of rock, paper, scissors between me and my wife, I chose paper and she chose scissors.  Damned the luck.  A quick change into swimming trunks and I was soon at pool side wondering why in the f_ _ _ I didn't pick rock . . . I always pick rock.  STUPID WIFE.

Wanting to lead rather then follow I did what had to be done.  I jumped.  The water was deep and it was COLD.  Not mildly cool, but glacial in its bite.  Surfacing for a pained gulp of air, it was time to put on my poker face. "Not bad at all" . . . I lied, and the rest of the boys jumped in.  Mistake.  Even though the temperature was less than ideal we made the best of it and spent a half hour or so, playing in the frozen puddle.  After exiting the pool for the last time, I thought to myself that I was lucky to have already born two wonderful children as I now have three adam's apples and no nuts in my sack.  It was a worthy sacrifice for an evening with my two favorite companions.  Their joy certainly eclipsed the pain of frozen extremedies and it was soon time to return our house to the original 4.  With still very little feeling in my fingers and toes, I finished the evening and soon found myself surrounded by warmth of my bed linens.  Early to bed and early to rise, it would be another day of school for all in the morning, so must get our rest.