Goodbye carefree youth

Once, during college, I spent the summer working as a waitress at a fancy lake resort. The tips were great, the atmosphere fun, and the lake views breath taking. Between shifts we would swim, boat, and bask in the warm, no more like hot, glorious sun.

One evening, after a long day of frolicking in the freedom of youth, I waited on a table of three families vacationing together. The number of sunburned towheads under the age of  six far outweighed the six accompanying adults. The summer look of sun-n-surf exhaustion fell on them as the slumped with smiles in the dinning room chairs. The littles, half asleep, nestled in their parents arms, the sleepy eyed bigs slowly moved red, blue, and green crayons over the kid's menu. The parents, all six of them, were also nearly asleep until...

Until I come wobbling over with a very heavy laden drink tray-a tray with six gasses of Merlot and many, many kid drinks. In butler fashion I had one hand flat under the tray while the other removed the drinks. When there was only three glasses of Merlot left I noticed the tray was feeling quite perilously unbalanced. However, ignoring caution I pushed on by slowly lifting one of the remaining Merlots...then....

EEK! The tray slips & literally dumps the remaining two glasses of RED, RED, WINE on a towhead who had been sleeping ever so peacefully in his parent's arms. My jaw drops and I nearly faint as my eyes witness this child's super white hair turn burgundy along with his white summer polo & his mother's breezy summer dress. I  rush to get towel, and soon am frantically trying to mop up all globs of red all the while chanting apologies. They just laugh, make jokes about the drinking age, and leave me one the largest tips I earned that summer.

The next morning I was back to serve the early crowd as a favor to allow a wake-boarding crazed co-worker experience the smooth as glass morning water. Minutes before the breakfast hour ended I see that same group of three families triumphantly rush through the door. I greet them with another apology, they joke about their young son already having drinking problem, and then the mom turns the child in her arms around and reveals a still burgundy colored little boy! My look of, "I stained a child red!" must of been somewhat disconcerting because the mother laughs and then explains that the boy has yet to be washed.

Not Washed!? For years I puzzled over this incident- it seemed utterly disbelieving to me that one could put a child soaked in red wine to bed like that. Over the years every time I thought of my summer at the resort I would remember this family and think things like, "They seemed like such good parents...such a happy  caring family. I just don't understand how they didn't bath him and change his clothes? Maybe they are good parents, but not very clean people. I mean even the stained polo shirt was still on? Why would you do that to your child?" I would generally end with shaking my head and whispering to self, "So weird."

Oh the ignorance and innocence of youth! I was walking down my hallway after putting to bed two unbathed, utterly exhausted by a long, super fun weekend children and out of the blue I remembered this story. EUREKA!  I literally laugh out loud-I would do exactly the same thing.

The child probably fell asleep as they walked back to their room. Knowing full well the consequences of breaking the scared parenting mantra, 'don't wake a sleeping child' they every so quietly laid him on his bed thinking they would wash him in the morning. But their exhausted children did the unthinkable-slept in. With only minutes left before the dinning room closed for breakfast they rush everyone out and run downstairs-burgundy stained child and all.

Not sure which is more disconcerting having this enlightenment or also realizing that college kids now view me as I an old parent. Hmpf. Why did the two realization occur together :-)