GM- The Little Tropical Mermaid

Some people are having a hard time getting the message with this thread, so I thought I'd share an old girl moment (more like 2 weeks) with all of you and see if that helps any.

A few years ago my family went on holiday to a tropical location by the ocean. Everything there was incredible and wonderful, but it didn't compare to the beautiful girls on holiday with their families. There was one girl in particular, about 6 years old, with light brown hair that just past her shoulders. She was skinny, but not unhealthy skinny, and her skin was a pale peach (which would darken day after day in the sun).

Her family was staying in the same hotel as mine, though in a different building. The place was more like a townhouse complex, condos, rather than a big hotel. Since it was always hot out, most people frequented the pool daily. Like me, they'd sit down around the pool in the shade of the palm trees (or in the sun beyond the shade) and enjoy the atmosphere while reading a book. And of course there was swimming in the pool. Well for two days this girl, who I'll call "E", and her family ended up at the pool the same time as me. That's not a surprise, since I spent most of the afternoons at the pool, as did the family.

E was a great swimmer. She swam in the deep end of the pool with no help from a life jacket or water wings. Just her little legs and arms to propel her and keep her afloat. And she could dive off the side of the pool into the water like a little human torpedo. She wasn't exactly graceful in this, because she'd hunch over so far to the point of her knees touching her chin and her outstretched hands practically touching the water. But it was more than I could do. I had never learned to dive, though I wasn't a bad swimmer.

While swimming by on the second day of first seeing her, after she had just leapt into the water and pushed her head above the surface, I told her that she was a very good diver. She smiled and said thanks, and went back to do it another half dozen times. A short while later, I was standing in the shallow end of the pool watching my sister (a couple years younger than me) doing hand stands in the water. Suddenly a big splash of water hit me from behind and I turned to see the little girl surfacing with a big grin on her face, staring right at me. "Did I get you?" she giggled. I laughed and said, "You sure did!" And that was the start of a great friendship.

I played in the pool with E for a half hour, loving every minute of it as much as she did. I over heard my sister commenting about how kids loved me so much to the girl's parents, since my family and her family were sitting near each other. E and I continued to play in the pool for another hour and a half before it was time to head back to our seperate places for dinner. E made sure we planned to meet again tomorrow, asking her parents what the best time was and telling me very grown-up-like that they'd be there at 2:00 pm.

I spent a heavenly week playing with her in the pool. Sometimes we'd do our seperate things, but most of the time we were together. Both her and her dad taught me how to dive. I joked that I better learn how because I didn't want to be out done by a 6 year old. She sometimes would wrap her arms around my neck and ride me like a dolphin from one end of the pool to the other, and then we'd dive like a submarine with her still holding tight and come up for air a short distance away. In the pool we splashed each other, practiced hand stands, pretended to be mermaids (in which instance I had to tell her to keep her bathing suit top on even though she wanted to be like a real mermaid). I sometimes lifted her out of the water and tossed her a few feet away, her little laugh disappearing in a gush of water.

I even went on a couple walks with the girl, usually with her dad or her mom coming along as well. We enjoyed the beaches, examined coral and sea creatures. Collected shells and rocks. We walked past a completely abandoned giant hotel that was all blocked off and wondered what had happened to it. And we even went for ice cream once.

Near the end of the heavenly two weeks, E's parents asked if I could baby sit E while they went out for supper together. I was more than happy to. I had done a lot of baby sitting back home, which they knew. So that night at 6:30 I went over to their condo and was left alone with the beautiful 6 year old. Her parents would be back around 9, and had filled me in on all the little rules (like bed time and snacks) before they'd left.

Now if you're thinking this is the perfect opportunity to "really get to know E", you'd be right. But I wasn't going to mess with what we had. We were such good friends, and her parents trusted me. And beyond that, I wasn't about the break the law even though a whispering wish for more than what we already had crossed my mind.

Instead, I did what any good baby sitter would do. We drew and coloured a picture book about our holiday. We played leap frog. We ate snacks. We watched cartoons. She cuddled up to me while we watched cartoons, leaning against my side with my arm over her. She occasionally looked up at me and smiled a semi-sleepy smile. When the show was over I read her a short kids book. Then it was time for bed. She went to the bathroom and brushed her teeth, the usual before bed ruitine. Afterwards she gave me a big long hug before climbing into bed, while telling me that I was the best baby sitter ever. I asked if she wanted to change into her pajamas. With a grin on her face she asked me, "Do you want to put me in my pajamas?" I chuckled and said, "I don't think your parents would like that very much." even though I was dying to say, "Yes I do!" So in the end she decided she wasn't going to wear her pajamas, and just wore her clothes to bed. We hugged again, and I pulled the blankets over her. I turned out the light, keeping the bathroom light on before leaving the room, and went to read a book for an hour until her parents got home.

We only had a few more days together after that before I had to leave and head back home. The tragic thing is that the very day I was leaving, they ended up being away doing some kind of tourist thing. So I hadn't been able to do a full proper good bye. That broke my heart, but I did leave a short letter saying how much I had enjoyed meeting them. I even left my address if E wanted to write to me. That was pushing my luck, I knew, so I added that I understood if they didn't want to. But that I had loved their company and I hoped they would all have good lives.

Now would I have ever had such a spectacular holiday if I hadn't made contact with E and befriended her and her family? The chances of that would be a lot less likely. I'd have just gone day in and day out to the pool and watched the beautiful girl from a distance, longing to be closer to her. Sure, the holiday would have still been great without her, but with her in it, the holiday was absolutely unforgetable.