42 Inches (Maybe)

One of the pools in town is actually a water park. We usually go a couple of times each summer because the summer passes we get for the pool down the street include several free passes for the water park. The kids love it! When they were really small, it has a great “fish slide”. And they enjoy the lazy river. But last year tragedy struck:

 

Emry was 42 inches tall…and Ethan was not.

 

Actually, almost every slide in the park requires a height of 48 inches to ride…except one. For that one, you need be only 42 inches. Last year, Emry just made that height requirement. And Ethan had a breakdown because he wasn’t big enough. Tears, begging, screaming…everything a broken hearted three-year-old can possibly bring forth. It was heart wrenching.

 

Well, a year goes by…and we measure ourselves often because that’s what growing kids do. And every time I think, “He’s not there yet. He’s not going to make it. We’re going to have to simply not go to the water park this summer. I can’t handle it.”

 

But we have the passes and it’s a shame to waste them. The measuring tape shows maybe41 ½ inches. But with his hair spiked, maybe 42?

 

I don’t know. And I don’t know what the measuring boards at the park will show. So, I prep him. I tell him he might not be quite tall enough yet. He might not get to ride the slide. I honestly don’t think my words mean anything. The first measuring board near the parking lot shows me just short unless you count his hair. But when I ask the girl at the window as she sizes the kids up on the lines of tape on her window, she says they both fall within the 42 and 48 range. So, I take it. And we don’t get stopped going up the steps with our “water sleds”. Ethan is exuberant!!!!!

 

The story he now tells of his first time on the water slide is he almost got sick, but it was sooooo fun, and he rode it half a dozen times! And as far as I am concerned, he can tell the story anyway he likes. I am just beyond relieved…and have decided we will not be returning to the waterpark again unless they are both under 48 inches or both over48 inches. I am not having a sobbing eight year old on my hands!

 

Emry and Ethan at the bottom of the slide.