Four-leaf Clover

When Fiorella was about five years old, her major playmate was Diane Woodhall, who lived across the street.  One day, there was a stranger in Diane's backyard, her uncle Adam, who occupied himself by talking to Diane, Fio, and the other two Woodhall kids for a while, then asked if we had ever found a four-leaf clover. We all started looking for one in the spring grass and came up empty-handed, but Adam found one in seconds. Then he did it again. Fio suspected some sort of slight of hand, the kind of joke adults will play on children, and backed away. Never trust a trickster.

Playdates

When Fiorella was a child in Akron, she went across the street to play with Diane Woodhall or down the street to play with Barbara Tromer, or up the street to play with Bobby Duncan or further up to play with a motley gang of kids in Patty Castile's big, jungle-like yard.  In Waco, she ran across the street to play with Ellen or went next-door to visit Elaine.

When Fiorella's children were born, she assumed they also would roam freely around the neighborhood. WRONG-O!  There was a new kid on the block--playdates.  Where did these things come from? Probably from the fact that, in the meantime, mothers had entered the workforce and were not at home anymore so they had to set up appointments for their children to play together.

How sad.