Playing Hooky

Yesterday I had another gift from Diana. She was trying to convince me all weekend to let her engage in the second Senior Skip Day of the school year. Mainly the kids are protesting several decisions of the administration by staying home. Diana has had a number of illness related absences this year so I was more than a tad reluctant. Finally, she looked at me and said, "Listen, Mom. I don't want to bag school so I can hang out with my friends. I want to hang out with you and do something together because with me going to college I don't know if I will be around for Mother's Day next year with it being the beginning of Finals week and all." Gulp, ok. How could I possibly say no to that?

When she woke up in the morning she announced she had $30 she intended to blow on the day for us. She asked if I wanted to go bowling, mini golfing, to the movies, out to lunch, or for a hike. We decided to catch the matinee of X-Men Origins because we both have a great fondness for the ever delectable Hugh Jackman. She suggested we stop at the video store and rent a bunch of other Hugh movies but the weather was too nice to spend the entire day inside so I convinced her to go for a walk along the levee by a local park. However, the playground equipment called to us so we had to play on it for a bit before our walk.

Diana has always been an "old soul." She came out of the chute 40 years old. So seeing her play like a little kid is always something that makes me smile. Her mother never quite grew up so it's no surprise when I act like a kid.

When she announced she was going to mount the chipmunk I almost split a gut laughing.

Then it was my turn to ride the duck. Yes, the sign said the playground was designed for children 5-12 years old. The one other family present didn't seem upset that we were interpreting that loosely. I think the duck was less than happy though.

We did discover that being too big for the slide meant a less than thrilling ride.

After we finished the safety testing of all playground equipment we crawled up the levee for our walk. It was a grueling expedition.

We took our walk during which I was told I do not know how to amble properly. When I heard music coming from a nearby house I stopped to dance to it so Diana could rest after my breakneck speed. Mercifully, there is no video of my dance moves. By then we were hungry so we headed to the food court and the dollar store to load up on lunch and movie snacks. Yep, we stuffed all that into a big bag to sneak it into the theater. We were two wild and crazy girls breaking all the rules...skipping school, ignoring the playground age limits, contraband movie snacks. I'm telling ya, Thelma and Louise had nothing on us. We also wisely chose not to end our lawbreaking spree by plummeting into the Grand Canyon.


We enjoyed drooling in tandem over the ever delectable Hugh Jackman (but I am calling dibs on him since he's my age, though I am glad I have imparted such good taste to her.)
It was a good day. I was touched by her desire to spend time and make some special memories with me. Rules are good, but sometimes you just have to know when to break them.