Sunshine and the Scissors

Today was a gorgeous Seattle day. By that I mean that the horizon was clear and pollution free, the thermometer read 80 degrees, and one could see the snow capped Olympics and Cascades without even trying. The color of the sky in Seattle on a clear day reminds me of my favorite Crayola crayon color from when I was a kid. Periwinkle. It looks like it's straight out of a Bugs Bunny cartoon. I had never actually seen Periwinkle accurately represented in real life until I moved to Seattle.

To honor the periwinkle sky,  I did what any self respecting Seattleite who has been jipped out of Spring would do (remember, we had snow in April!). I ditched all responsible activities in order to enjoy the sun and get some Vitamin D.  I packed up a picnic dinner and whisked my kids from the bus stop to the park in no time flat. We rode bikes and scooters, played frisbee and soccer, ate scrumptious food and even were gifted dessert cookies from a cyclist who couldn't bear the thought of chocolate melting in his car, going unconsumed. After, all we are not big on waste in the Northwest. 

The park was just crawling with people. Cyclists, runners, walkers, roller-bladers, kayakers, skateboarders, families, soccer players..... Today was a communal celebration of sunshine. People were wearing sunglasses. And, they were smiling.

Because there was so much light, I noticed two bald spots on my daughter's eyebrows. She noticed me noticing and worriedly branched into a full blown confession. "Mom, I took the little bathroom scissors and cut the hair on my eyebrow (she was remembering getting in big  trouble for cutting her own hair when she was 4 and cutting MY hair when I was obliviously working on the computer). I wanted to have skinnier eyebrows, like yours."

Now, I seriously pluck my brows. My nerves have lost all feeling over the years. I looked at her in disbelief, not ready to embrace the fact that she was scrutinizing her appearance so carefully at 8 years old. I decided to laugh with her about it. We cracked up and then decided that if she ever wanted to trim her own eyebrows, she'd ask me for help. 

Then, in a pretty sweet pull-back move, I stole her soccer ball and she had to come after me to get it.