One of my favorite things about living in a small town is live music in the garden. Everybody comes out for it. It's the one time in the summer where you can catch up with other small town denizens - who's been to Disneyland, who's been to Colorado, who's on leave, who's going on a cruise - the outdoor live music venue, be it the Famous Water Company like tonight or Clark Gardens Botanical Park earlier in the summer, is the heartbeat of our small town.
Where Clark Gardens has their snow cones, the Famous Water Company has its ice cream. Mint chocolate chip in a cup is the first thing Ruby asked for when we got there. She finished it before we got outside and claimed our table and chairs on the patio lit by strands of white light.
About an hour and a cold beer into the music Ruby came up to me and said, "I just saw the most awesome thing ever! It was a cone with one scoop of mint chocolate chip and ANOTHER scoop of chocolate, one the same cone! Can I have one please?" She said as she looked sideways and batted her eyelashes.
I didn't say yes, and I didn't say no. I told her to go inside and ask if she could have a sample, a taste, of it. "Describe it to them exactly as you did to me," I told her. I was pretty confident she would not get it because she had no money. Mother's can be so naive.
Five year-olds can be extremely persuasive as evidenced by my next sight. She walked out the door with a full two scoops, the biggest ice cream that I've ever seen her with, and she even shared it.
The point is that she knew all along she was going to get it. She had that air about her. She knew what she wanted, she visualized it, then she materialized it. The whole scene was a beautiful example of faith and the confidence of inner knowing. Because when it comes to ice cream and children we're talking about two things that seem meant for each other.
I love the way our children are so very often our teachers. (and I always love a good Ruby Jane story!
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