When an 18 year old takes a walk with her more or less annoying mother

Lakefront Park at about 8pm on an August evening, dog in tow:

--I'm glad my friend finally told me what he wanted to tell me.

--Was it hard? Did it hurt your feelings?

--No, it was nothing bad.

--But you guessed right in what you thought he was going to say?

--Ya.

--Well, I'm glad for you. Having to wait to hear something that somebody wants to tell you could drive you kind of nuts, not knowing what it is...whether it's good or bad.

--It wasn't bad.

-- But you're not going to tell me what he told you... soooo, we need to move on to a new topic. Silence as FiFi stops to smell a spot in the grass. --It's amazing the smells that dogs can sense.  More silence as we walk on.

--Life is just going too fast. At the beginning of the summer I was happy. Now the summer is almost over.

--Well, today it is still summer. The more moments you can stop and appreciate in a day, the longer the days will seem to last. And today it's warm. It's not 10 degrees below zero. Treasure today. It's sticky and sweaty, but it's a waste when people wish for cooler weather, jeans, jackets, and bonfires, when we have today and it's still summer.  Let yourself sweat and love the sweat, because in a few months... Fifi has to stop again. A drum beat and music are coming from up ahead.

--I wish I had something to talk about but I just don't.

--That's perfectly ok.  Sometimes we just need to soak in what's around us. In a hushed voice: Look! A great blue heron! See him?

--Where? Oh, there.

--And look at how he is silhouetted. The sun's rays are creating a beam on the water and he's just off to one side of it. What a picture this is! Both the humans and the dog stop and face the water.

--Ok, Mom.

--No, I mean, sometimes I have to remind myself that I'm not looking at a photograph. That I am really seeing what I am seeing. More stopping for FiFi to take in the smells of the park. The humans taking in the vision of the heron still as a statue in the shallows of the river.  At my age I have seen so much of the world, so much of it through pictures. But this is real and I get to be part of the experience. For somebody up on the road behind us, they are seeing me see the heron next to the sun's reflection on the water. I have been painted into this picture now. Part of their reality, and I may not even know it. 

--Mom, I get it. Can we keep walking? Moves ahead and decides to stop stopping for the dog.

--But the beauty of this moment...

--Mom...

Rounding the bend of the path, they reach the  beach house and swimming area. A gull is neatly perched on the tip of a swimming area bouy that is bobbing up and down from the waves of a passing boat. --See the gull?

--Yes, I see it. It's clear now where the music is coming from...and what type of music it is.

--If I'm not mistaken, that's an Elvis impersonator giving a concert in the band shell tonight. In full Elvis garb, a crooner with a back up band begins a somewhat accurate rendition of "Return to Sender" --And the crowd is huge...this is a first...

--I'm going home now.