A Handful of Tadpoles
Summer Six Word Story Challenge: “Shine!”
We walk to check tadpole development.
I try to go for a 20-minute early-evening walk each day while the sun is still shining. I started asking my 11-year-old granddaughter to walk with me. She is in a new middle school with a new schedule and a longer day. It is a big transition for her. The quiet time together on our walk is when I hear about her day, and it gives us both time to appreciate the beautiful clouds, the birds in the trees, the butterflies on flowers, and the tadpoles in the rain ditches.
Yesterday I had been outside gardening most of the day and I was tired. I said, “Let’s skip our walk tonight.” She persisted, “Please walk with me.” She was anxious to go on our walk. Why? She wanted to see if the tadpoles had gotten much bigger since the day before. She knows they will be toads soon and wanted to see them again while they were still tadpoles. So, we walked. Some of the puddles had tadpoles that were bigger since yesterday, but there seemed to be newly hatched batches too.
The tadpoles are growing. She is growing. We both need to walk together in the last sunshine of the day. What more could a grandma ask for?
P.S. This story is a hint about what is happening in a previous Six Word Story:
