I was recently on vacation with my family and as one of our traditional stops, we visited a candy store in town. It’s been around since I was a child — it used to have a taffy pulling machine that ran all day. I loved to watch the long thick strands of candy being pulled around and around and around.
Recently, it’s come under new ownership. This owner has been updating the store, adding photo opportunities outside, more kid friendly decor inside, that sort of thing.
The taffy machine is gone. I understand why — food and safety and all that — but I still kind of miss it.
One thing they’ve added is sidewalk chalk outside for kids to write on the pavement. I honestly think this is a great idea for any place where kids congregate. Kids *love* drawing with chalk. Even older kids. Even K1, who is 11, grabbed a piece.
I think it’s fascinating, this human need to make our mark. Ever since our ancestors blew ochre paint on a cave wall to make handprints, we’ve been doing what we can to leave something of ourselves behind. Music, paintings, photos, books — even, in modern days, our tweets, our blog posts, our selfies. They all seem to boil down to someone standing in the river of time, screaming “I wuz here.”
Terry Pratchett wrote something to the effect of “No one is actually dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away.” What sort of ripples are you leaving?
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