Grace and I had a mother-daughter outing to Water Wizz in Wareham today. The place is an enormous water park, full of slides and rides and a variety of pools to play in. We arrived and it was not very warm – I stood shivering in my long-sleeved tee shirt while Grace dove immediately into the smaller kid pools. After a few different experiments in a variety of these pools, she eyed the big waterslide and said: “I want to do that.” I looked at her with disbelief – I was a little scared to do it, let alone her.
We walked over there and I asked the attendant if sh was too small to go. I fully expected “yes” in response but instead he said, “Nope, as long as you go down first.” In fact the place is marked by what feels like a tremendous lack of anxiety re: liability and risk, which I actually find really refreshing. I looked at Grace, and told her she’d have to go alone. Her enthusiasm was undiminished. We walked up what felt like a thousand steps to the top of the slide. We were much older and much younger than the rest of the riders: Water Wizz appears to be a teen mecca. About halfway up she turned to me and said in a stern voice, “Mummy, I’m not shivering because I’m scared. I’m shivering because I’m cold.” Okay.
I got into my tube and looked back at Grace, saying “See you at the bottom!” and pushing myself off. The slide was fast and twisty and actually really fun, but I definitely went flying up around the bends and plummeted into the pool at the bottom at high speed. I turned around and waited for Grace for what seemed like an eternity. When I saw her come around the final bend her face was literally alight. She was grinning ear to ear. As soon as she splashed into the bottom pool she wanted to go again.
We went over and over again. I was frigidly cold and Grace must have been too, visibly shaking as we waited for our turns, but she did not mind. One time she splashed into the bottom pool and flipped over, landing underneath her big yellow inner tube. She surfaced, with a surprised look on her face, and said to me, “Well, that was unexpected!”
About halfway through our visit I realized I hadn’t put sunscreen on either of us. Great mother! I mentioned it aloud and said, “Wow, Gracie, that really dumb of me!” and she said, consolingly, “Don’t worry, Mummy, it was just an honest mistake.” When did she develop the vocabulary and mannerisms of an adult?
She cracks me up, this daredevil big/little girl of mine.
