Some things you and your kids take for granted.  How many folks have seen a swing in the past day or so?  A swing to learn how to pump and work yourself.  A swing that teaches you the science of gravity, push and pull.  Being rewarded by going sky high.  Learning that hard concept and reaching your feet up to the sky.  Well, that accomplishment for Allie has gone unlearned. Being only three when we left Virginia, she was just beginning to get the concept of swinging.  

However, PARIS DOES NOT HAVE SWINGS!  Accept for one measly little odd swing right out side of Notre Dame Cathedral.  I have accepted this but have learned something else.

Again, present day.  I take Allie to a park that is close by.  We live in the sixteenth arrondissemont.  They aren't hip to kids' play areas, just diamond watch stores.  I park myself on a bench like either the nannies or the grandparents do.  I watch Allie play in the sand then I watch her some paces away at the jungle gym...no swings of course.  All of a sudden I see her hopping in a fashion kind of weird yet familiar to me. I watch some more.  What the heck is she tossing?  What is she doing hopping to silhouettes in the sand?  It dawned on me.  She is trying to play hopscotch on her own.  Now, we in America know the good ol' game of hop scotch!  My baby girl was trying to show the French kids how to play hopscotch even though she barely learned the game to begin with.  I think back and realize I have not yet seen a hopscotch grid on the ground.

You can take the girl out of America but can't take the America out of the girl.

God bless hopscotch and those who pursue it!