'eee iiii eeee iiii ooooh' or perfectly cut triangle sandwiches

The other day I was on a train ride with the kids and Tim. It was an old historical steam engine and of course we were only there to please Josh (funny isn't how we do anything to please our kids). When the train started up I took Josh for a walk through the cars to the front of the train where there was a Thomas toy train, a clown and a musician. Josh was full of awe and wonder, especially when the man playing guitar started to play Old McDonald... I think he thought his Mummy was the only one who knew that song. As I stood in the isle with him and listened, giggling at Josh's exuberant shouts of 'eee iii eee iii oooh' I noticed three older ladies drinking their tea and eating little sandwiches cut into neat little triangles. It amused me just as much as the sweet little boy pulling my hand and shouting 'wow'.

Just as we were about to move on I heard one of the older ladies yell to the other two (my guess is that their hearing aides were either not working or they were in denial about the hearing loss altogether). Anyway, that isn't the point is it?. She yelled to her two friends 'I think this must be a train for children' and she had a particularly disgruntled look on her face. It made me giggle a little, I mean, did she really think a steam ride with clowns and toy trains was going to be a nice place for afternoon tea and cakes? I leaned in, giving her a wink and said 'childhood is a state of mind'. She looked at me, again a little perturbed and I could almost imagine how the Queen would look aboard a train like this with Old Mac Donald and BINGO playing as back ground music. It was her friend who turned to me, looked down at Josh and smiled, 'yes dear' she said ' I believe you might be right' and then she too started to clap and sing "eee iii eee iii oh'.

Loving the life lessons I have been having lately... it's been a rough fall and sometimes it's easy to imagine that I am one of those old ladies, and instead of getting out of my seat and singing, glad to be alive I would rather sit and grumble over tea and perfectly cut triangle sandwiches. I will do my best to remember to yell out 'eee iii eee iii oooh' at the top of my lungs then next time life throws another sucker punch! :)