My hand holds, animated just above her head.
I know where all of the best tickle spots are (and she knows it).
She grins and squeals as I come in for my attack.
And then as I get the little spot under her arm, she guffaws –
A big, hearty laugh that would be nearly indecipherable from her big sister’s if I weren’t looking straight at her.
Laughs turn to giggles and she scrunches up her nose.
“Mah-may,” she calls, begging for more tickles.
Soon enough she will learn “again”
And will say “Mommy” like the others.
But today?
Today I am still “Mah-may” (and gladly so).
Linked with Just Write at The Extraordinary-Ordinary.
No? I didn’t tell you about that?
Well, we took a little field trip to the jail.
I had no idea that it’d be so interesting or that many people would want to go!
We had 12 kids and 6 adults!
They fingerprinted each of the kids and entered them into the system.
We got to see the holding cell, the small store, the medical room, and the conversation area.
(We saw where one inmate ripped the curtain rod holder out of the wall, but I didn’t get a picture.)
We were able to test out the mattresses they use. (It had been sanitized!!)
The sergent showed us the different uniforms that the inmates wear and explained the colors.
Women wear white.
Men wear orange.
The ‘runarounds’ have brown uniforms.
‘Runarounds’ are the ladies and gentlemen who have earned the privilege to work in the jail.
Some help with cleaning or cooking or other types of routine chores.
All of the meals there are made from scratch, often with food grown in the garden.
He mentioned to both the kids and parents that they do accept volunteers.
So if your mom and dad think you need a little ‘tough love’, they can let you volunteer at the jail.
One kid cleaned baseboards with a toothbrush.
This is something I need to keep in my memory bank!
