Make Up Day

A day off, and a return to spring-like weather here in Georgia.  It was actually downright warm outside for a bit this afternoon. 

Also returning:  Madison to school.  Everything is back to routine, even our “made-up story time” in the car on the way to school.  Each morning, Madison wants a made-up story, and they vary in content from drive to drive.  But this morning’s was sort of funny because she wanted to hear something that featured Marvel superheroes and Winter the dolphin.

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Once upon a time, Wolverine, Captain America and the Hulk were walking along the beach, having driven down to Florida.  They were walking, and sharing stories about their biggest battles – when all of the sudden, they heard a loud squeaking noise that was coming from the gulf waters. 

“What was that?” Wolverine asked, sniffing the air.

Captain America pointed out to the water, and saw Winter the Dolphin there, making all sorts of noise.

“I wonder what she wants,” he said to no one in particular.

Winter jumped in the water the best she could, and pointed her beak up the shoreline a bit.  And that’s when the Hulk saw it:  another dolphin, trapped in a net and beached on the shore!

The three quickly followed along the shore, as Winter swam in the water beside them until they all reached this poor dolphin. 

“What do we do?” the Hulk asked.

“We cut that netting off right away, of course,” Wolverine blurted out – but as he extended his claws, the trapped dolphin got a bit frightened.

“Wolverine,” Captain America said, “Take it easy – you’re scaring her.”

Always one with a strategy, he continued:  “Hulk, I want you to stay by her head and say some encouraging things.”

“Like what?”

“Like ‘you’ll be fine’ and ‘okay there, everything is going to work out.’  Stuff like that,” Captain America told him.  “While you’re doing that, I’m going to go and use my shield like a bowl and collect some water to pour over her and keep her skin cool.  While I do that, Wolverine, you sneak behind her and carefully start cutting away the netting that’s keeping her trapped.”

With that, Captain America quickly marched into the waves to collect some water, while Hulk did his best.

Hulk said, “You be fine.  You be okay.  You be good.”

All the while, Wolverine was using his stealth mode to cut away the netting that was making the poor dolphin miserable.  Captain America poured cool water gently on the dolphin, and Winter seemed to think it was all going well – she squeaked loudly!

The trapped dolphin trusted the three superheroes now, and knew Wolverine was there to help – so he was a bit more relaxed.  It was either that, or the Hulk’s words were really working:  “Dolphin goooood.  Dolphin goooooood.”

Finally, the netting was cut away.  Hulk was so excited that he offered to quickly return the trapped dolphin to the sea.

“Hulk throw dolphin in water!”

“NO!” Wolverine and Captain America said quickly.

Wolverine explained, “We have to put her back in the water gently, bub.”

The Hulk understood.  So gently as he’s ever been in his life, he picked up the poor dolphin off the hot sand, and walked slowly into the waves.  Being such a tall guy, he was able to walk her right into the water, still holding on as his head was above the water.  There, he released the dolphin back into the water carefully.

Winter met the dolphin there in the water, and though the formerly stranded dolphin was a bit slow in moving, she was clearly recovering pretty quickly.  Fortunately, she was rescued soon after being beached.

As Hulk returned to the beach and stood by his friends there, the dolphins started swimming around fast and faster.  Everything looked like it would be okay.

Knowing that, the three waved goodbye to their new friends in the water, and continued walking along the shore.

“Hero work never done,” Hulk said.  “Even on Spring Break!”

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This afternoon, we had some epic piano practice time.  It took a while to catch up, but we did everything on that practice sheet.  As a reward, there was ice cream.  And a game of Candy Land too.  She specifically requested a few rounds of Candy Land, so we actually played the game about four times!  Of course, the fourth time was rigged.  Daddy was wanting to see in exactly how many turns you could win the game, and for all of you who are now curious, when it is rigged, you can win by picking just four cards.  Madison had no idea that last game was rigged in her favor, but she was pretty delighted by it all.

Daddy won the first two games – couldn’t be helped – but Madison is a good sport about it all.  She even celebrates your victory with you.  But she does want to play again to see if she can win.  Which, fortunately, she did with round three.

Madison went to bed tonight, quite content and sweet as always.  After we were praying for a friend of ours, Madison began to get weepy for a moment.  She was asking a question she already knew the answer to.  It was about having a family – something we were just praying for with another person.  And we talked about how we both wanted a family so much as well, both Mommy and Daddy.  Madison asked the question, “You wanted me that much?”  Of course we all were weepy then.  Yes, Madison – we did!

She fell asleep tonight, but not before making another request – she wants to see “Dolphin Tale” tomorrow.  We’ll watch that together, of course.  Afterwards, we’ll probably watch an old beach movie.  The reason:  today we lost a few icons. 

Annette Funicello passed away today, having battled a terrible sickness for over twenty years.  She’s the greatest Mousketeer, and yes I’m including this recent batch of winners from the nineties.  Daddy wasn’t young enough to be with the kids who grew up with her with the Mickey Mouse Club, or even any of her later movies.  Yet growing up, we watched them as reruns, Disney movies and of course those wacky beach movies.  We even went to the theater to see “Back to the Beach.”  It was goofy, but it was fun!

There was just something about Annette, something that made you wish we could all return to a time just before the big decline.  Obviously, things were not perfect back then: as we learn more about our country’s heritage, we learn about some shameful things from the past – things we’re not so proud of.  But there’s no doubt our nation is in its biggest decline now, losing its identity.  Somehow watching Annette and her friends is just one way to recapture what once was, or at least what we wish things could always be.  It’s difficult to express just what it is about that era that draws us back in time like Marty McFly.  But this week we’ll join him, Annette, and all the others as we get nostalgic for a time that many of us wish our country could come back to.