PEEK-A-BOO

After dinner my son Alex and I decided to take a drive down to the beach. There's a National Park by us called Sandy Hook, a peninsula that has the ocean on one side and the bay on the other.

We parked the car in the lot and made our way across the sand to some large jetty rocks by the ocean. As we climbed up on one of the rocks we could see the ocean, the waves gently tumbling onto the sand. We sat down and watched as fisherman, further down the beach, set up their equipment along the edge of the water. Right in front of us several poles were lined up on the sand, waiting for the next nibble, but no one seemed to be around to tend them.

“I'm so glad you're Dad isn't into fishing.” I said to Alex.

“Why?” he was sitting on his own jetty rock.

I shook my head. “I don't know. I really don't like the taste of fish and I wouldn't want him coming home with a cooler filled with them and wanting me to gut and clean them.” I shuddered at the thought. “Yuck.”

Just then a man popped up from the other side of the boulder I was sitting on. He didn't look our way but went directly to the fishing poles in front of us.

Alex looked over at me, his eyes opened wide. “Do you think he heard you?” he whispered.

I shrugged my shoulders. “I'm not sure how he couldn't.” I leaned over the boulder and saw where he'd been sitting on the sand leaned up against the boulder I was sitting on. “Want to go over to the bay side now?” I asked.

Alex got up first then reached over to help me down from my perch. “Thanks.” I hopped down onto the sand. “Well that was embarrassing.” I laughed as we walked back through the parking lot, crossed the road and walked through the section that had been cut through the dunes.

“Whew,” I covered my nose as the low tide smell hit me. “It's stinky over here.”

I spotted something close to the tide line and walked over to it then crouched down. “It's a horseshoe crab!” I cried waving Alex over to me.

“Do you think it's still alive!” He asked as he came to stand next to me.

“I don't know.” We both stared at the motionless armored creature.

Alex pointed to another one half buried in the sand a few feet away. “It's like they're playing the worst game of hide and seek.” he laughed. “You know how little kids put a towel over their heads and think they're hiding?”

I had to laugh then quickly stopped. “Wait a minute.” I looked around and saw several more partially buried in the sand. “It's low tide.”

“I know. I can smell it too.” Alex began to step back.

“DON'T MOVE!” I cried.

Alex froze. “What's wrong?”

“They've come up on the beach to lay their eggs and the tide went out before they were done. That's why they've buried themselves in the sand! They're waiting for the tide to come back in.” I looked around and could see even more crabs. The drag lines from their shells were all over the beach. I slowly stood up. “Watch where you're walking.” I gingerly stepped over another crab. “We don't want to step on any of them.”

Alex and I must have looked ridiculous as we hopped and leaped over what other people watching us would think were imaginary objects. When I finally felt we were safely out of their egg laying area I turned back to Alex. “Well, that certainly was exciting!”

“Exciting?” Alex began brushing the sand I'd kicked up off his legs.

I looked back over to the horseshoe crabs. “I haven't seen that many horseshoe crabs since I was little girl.” I smiled as I looked at Alex. “I'm just so excited to see so many!”

Alex smiled. “I'm glad you're so excited.” he tipped his head towards the parking lot. “Now do you want to head back to the car before the fisherman you insulted packs up and we find out we're parked next to him.”

“Oh yeah.” I grimaced as I headed towards our car. “I forgot about him.”

EARLY BIRD

I was sitting on the couch, reading the morning newspaper, when my son Alex came out of his room. I looked at my phone to check the time. “It's only 6:30, what are you doing up so early?”

Alex used his fist to rub his eye. “I've been up since 3:30! Those stupid robin's made a nest in the holly tree right outside my window again!” he shook his head and sat down next to me. “I looked it up it takes over two weeks before the eggs hatch. Then another few weeks before they leave the nest!” He turned to look at me, I could see how tired he looked. “And why are they up so early?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “You know what they say. 'The early bird gets the worm'.” I tried to make a joke out of it but he wasn't having it.

“That's not early! That's the middle of the night!” He laid his head back against the cushions. “This is going to be a repeat of last year.” he sighed. “They yelled and screamed all day long.”

“I think most people think of birds as singing, not yelling.” I corrected him.

“They're not singing.” Alex corrected me. “It's definitely yelling.”

I patted him on the leg. “You're not sure they've made a nest.” I got up from the couch. “Maybe they were just hanging in the holly tree looking for a good spot somewhere else.” I went to the front door with Alex following me. “Let's check and see if we see a nest.”

Barefooted we walked around to the side of the house. My husband Steven had just trimmed the holly tree and it looked beautiful. I peeked around the tightly packed limbs. “See,” I pointed to the spot the nest was in last year. “They haven't rebuilt.”

Alex looked up higher. “Nope, they just moved up.”

I peeked through the holly leaves and sure enough there was a nest. I looked at Alex and shrugged my shoulders. “Sorry.” but then I smiled. “But it's all a part of Spring, right?”

Alex sighed. “Can't we move it?”

I shook my head. “You can't move a nest!”

“Why not?”

“Because they won't know where it is! It's not like I can leave a little sign that says: 'We've moved you to the lilac bush up front'!”

Alex looked back up at the nest. Not a very happy expression on his face. “I say we leave a sign that says: 'You're evicted'!” he grumbled.

“I'm pretty sure it's illegal to move an active nest. Besides it's only for a few weeks.” I smiled as I began walking him back to the front door. “Pretty soon it will be the cute chirps of the babies wanting to be fed.” I quickly put my hand over my mouth trying to stop what I'd just said.

Alex's shoulders went slack and he tipped his head back. “That's right! The non-stop crying to be fed.” he groaned again.

I put my hand on his shoulder guiding him back to the house. “You're just tired right now.” I said as I opened the front door. “How about I make you some eggs? Once you've eaten you'll feel a whole lot better.”

“That sounds good. I could go for some eggs.” he turned around and started to go back down our front steps.

“Where are you going?”

Alex turned and smiled at me. “To get the eggs!” he began to walk toward the holly tree.

“Very funny.” I held open the door open as he walked back in.

ROCKING MOM

My husband Steven held his phone up to me, “Alex and I thought you might like this for Mother's Day.” I took the phone from him and looked at what he'd saved on his Amazon account. It was a beautiful black rocking chair. “I thought we'd get two of them.” he added.

“Oh my gosh! Yes!” I handed the phone back to him. “They're perfect!”

My sister Liz had given us wooden rocking chairs for our front porch and I loved them, but weather hadn't treated them very kindly.

Steven began clicking to finish the order. “These are made to stay outside.” He looked over at me. “Do you want me to get a third one?”

“Why?” We only had two on the front porch. I didn't think we'd need a third.

“To replace your old one on the back porch.”

“What!” I began shaking my head no. “I love that rocking chair!”

“I know, but the paint's peeling off of it.”

“So, I'll paint it again.”

Steven sighed. “You've been saying that for the past two years. Why not just get a brand new one?” He turned the phone so I could see the picture again. “These will never have to be painted.”

“But I don't know how the new ones will rock.”

Now Steven looked confused. “What do you mean you don't know how it will rock?”

“Rocking chairs can be very different.” I began pointing to my fingers to list the different issues. “Sometimes it's a short choppy rock,” I started with my pointer finger, then moved on. “Or maybe the rock is too long and you feel like you're going to fall backwards. Or the front rock is too short and you feel like you're going to be ejected.”

Steven shook his head. “So what if you don't like the rock on these?”

“They're for the front porch. I'll rarely be sitting on those.” I pointed to the back porch. “But you know I live out there, and that's the perfect rocking chair.” Now it was time for me to sigh. “Besides I've had that rocking chair before we were even married. It's like it was part of my dowry.”

Now Steven started to laugh. “Your dowry? What else did you bring in your dowry? A couple of goats and maybe a cow?”

Now I started to laugh. “No, but I did come with a few outdoor cats.”

“Oh, yeah.” Steven shook his head. “I forgot about that.”

“Hey, they were good mousers! When you live by the river you need a few good mousers!”

I got up and went into the kitchen to look out window. “I love my rocking chair.” I was looking at my green, paint peeling, special chair. “But I get your point it does look terrible.” I turned around and looked back at Steven. “I promise I'll repaint it this summer.”

“Whenever you're ready let me know and I'll give you my sander.”

“Sander?” I looked back out the window. “The paints all peeled off. What's to sand?”

Steven just laughed. “Okay, I see that painting project going really well.”

“What?”

Steven finished ordering the new rockers. “They'll be here by the end of the week.”

“Yeah!” I smiled. “They'll look beautiful!” I went over to give him a hug. “Thank you! They're the perfect Mother's Day present!”

SPRING PEEPER SOLO

I'd been standing on our back deck for a few minutes before I came back inside. “Well, this sure stinks.” I said as I closed the door and looked at my son Alex, who was standing in front of the open refrigerator.

“What's wrong?” he asked as he moved things around on the shelf.

“Every night, for the past few weeks, I've popped outside to listen to our spring peepers.” I loved the chirping of the tiny little frogs chorus, as they called out for a mate.

“There was one night they got so loud I thought I'd left a window open.” I leaned against the counter. “I spent ten minutes wandering around the house, looking for the window that needed to be closed, only to find out everything was shut tight.”

“Ahum.” Alex stood back and once again scanned inside the refrigerator.

“That's how loud the peepers were that night!” I said, knowing he really wasn't paying attention to what I was saying.

“Wow.” he closed the refrigerator and walked over to the cabinet.

“What are you looking for?” I finally asked.

“Something to eat.” he began pulling out the drawers of the pantry.

“We literally just finished dinner five minutes ago!” I cried.

Alex shrugged his shoulders as he closed the pantry door. He went over to the cookie jar, lifted the lid, peeked inside before reaching in and pulling out a granola bar. “This will have to do.” he opened the wrapper and took a bite. “So, spring peepers huh?”

“Not anymore!” I cried.

“What do you mean?” He took another bite.

“That's what I was trying to tell you. I just went out tonight and I could only hear one tiny peeper calling out!” I sighed. “How sad is that?”

Alex shook his head. “Still not getting you?”

“He's all alone! No one's answering him!” I couldn't believe he wasn't understanding me. “It's like he showed up to the party late and everybody already left!”

“Wait,” Alex looked confused. “Weren't you the one who told me it's only the male that calls out?”

Now I was a little confused. “Yeah?”

“So maybe there's a dozen girls headed his way right now?” Alex smiled as he threw his wrapper in the trash. “Maybe that one lone guy out there is really the smartest one of them all.” Alex patted me on the arm as he left the kitchen.

I thought about that for a minute before I reached over the sink and opened the window. I listened to the peeper singing solo from his choir. I couldn't help but smile. “Maybe you are the smartest one.”

LILAC PROUD

I was sitting in our living room, windows open, enjoying the cool breeze when my son Alex came into the room. “What are you up to today?” I asked.

“Working.” he said as he went into the kitchen to make a cup of coffee. “What about you?” he called.

I sighed as I laid back and inhaled. “Right now I'm just enjoying our lilac bush.” I called before taking another deep breath. “I can't believe I can smell from here.”

Alex came in with his coffee and looked out the window at our lilac bush at the end of our driveway. “It sure is in full bloom.”

I looked over at him. “I don't mean to brag but if you look up and down our street you'll noticed that we have the biggest and nicest one in the neighborhood.” I smiled at him as if I had something to do with it.

Alex laughed. “I don't have to look, I believe you.”

I sat up and pointed to our neighbor. “I mean his is nice, maybe just as big, but it's got a white flower. Not the beautiful lavender one we have. And it has maybe a third of the blooms ours has!”

Alex shook his head. “I didn't know it was a competition.”

“Well, it's not really.” I shrugged my shoulders. “I'm just lilac proud.”

Alex rubbed his forehead and shook his head. “Did someone just cut their grass?”

I looked out the window. “I don't think so. Why?” I looked back at him.

“My allergies are bothering me today.” He took the heal of his hand and began rubbing his eye. Just then my husband Steven came into the room and saw Alex rubbing his eye. “You too?” he asked.

“Yeah, someone must have cut their lawn.” he shook his head again.

“It's the lilac bush.” Steven said as he went over to the window and closed it.

“Hey!” I cried. “I was just enjoying how great it smelled!”

“Sorry about that, but my head is pounding.” he looked over at Alex. “I'll put the air on.”

“Thanks.” Alex sat down on the couch. “Sorry about that, Mom. But that great smell you're smelling is just a headache to us.”

I sighed as I leaned back on the couch. “You know when I was growing up my Mom used to have a special vase that she used just for lilac's. It was a gorgeous dark purple. She'd cut an armload of lilacs, put them in that beautiful vase, and put it in the middle of the dining room table.” I looked over at him. “I used to love the way the whole house smelled like lilacs.”

“Nobody in your family was allergic?”

“Nope, not a one, and there were nine of us.” I shrugged my shoulders again and looked back out the window. “I wonder who got that vase when we split up the house?”

“Yeah, I wonder?” Alex looked concerned. “Maybe you should call Aunt Liz and ask her if she knows where it is?”

I got up to get my phone. “That's a great idea!” I stopped before I left the room. “You know you're lucky I'm so easily distracted. Otherwise, I'd still be upset that I'm not laying on my couch enjoying the smell of my lilac's!”

Alex just nodded his head and smiled. “I have to admit, it does come in handy at times.”