The Graceful Magnolia 10/3/2021

By: Jennifer Richardson Holt

I took my daughter to one of her favorite playgrounds earlier this week.  It is called locally known as the monkey park because apparently back in the day when we as a society weren’t as concerned about the well-being and comfort of our animals in captivity, there were monkeys kept in small cages at this park and though the primates are long gone, the name has remained. This is probably my daughter’s favorite local park because of the variety of playgrounds it offers.  It was on these playgrounds that I was fortunate enough to have yet another teachable moment.  As of late I have been trying to take every scenario, be it positive or negative and learn from it.  It was unexpectedly amongst tall trees, a babbling stream, slides and swings that I had an opportunity to put this method into practice yet again.  And oddly enough, the teaching came from two little blondes, one three years old and one five. 

Before we had made it to the first fun producing apparatus I saw a glowing head of blonde curls watching our approach. She had her eyes trained on my daughter. She was smiling a huge, red stained smile. She was waving. Her wave intensified with every inch of our approach. I looked at my daughter. She was smiling too.  Somehow in our approach, two little girls, clearly of different sizes and ages were magically bonding seemingly by eye contact.  By the time we were within earshot my daughter made the first move.  There was no greeting necessary by this point apparently because her words were “Let’s go play!” and off they ran.  My mother was with me and as we looked at the other little girl’s mother and smiled, my mother said, “Adults should be that way”.  The other mother nodded and gave some affirmative answer that I can’t exactly recall. While I watched those two blonde heads bob off to the nearest contraption, I pondered this sentiment.  Why can’t we be that way?  Why can’t we see a friendly face, cast aside all assumptions and prejudices and simply embrace the moment at hand?  She wasn’t concerned about any of the details about this girl. My daughter knew she was on a playground, and she appeared to be of a pleasant demeanor and that was all she needed to jump headfirst into a sudden but apparently deeply felt comradery.

Let me tell you a little bit about this beacon of goodwill that welcomed my daughter to the monkey park. Her name was a weighty one.  It was a double name that smacked of tradition and time.  I will not share it here to respect her privacy as her family might not care to have some stranger writing about her but let’s call her something achingly southern and sweet like, oh, I don’t know, Magnolia Grace.  This is about the only name I can come up with that is even close to doing her real name justice.  We asked her name and when she spurted out this pairing of hefty and what I can only surmise to be meaningful words my mother and I both looked at each other with raised eyebrows. My, my! That is a lot of name for such a small girl.  Just a short little mop of golden ringlets in a dress that might have been short on another form but on her hung down nearly to her ankles.  Her effervescent smile was ringed with the remnants of some red colored treat that only served to add to the intensity of her smile.  She took to my daughter as if they’d known each other for years, which is saying something for someone who only has 3 years of life as a point of reference. She even knew to ignore my child when she gets her bossy britches on and tried to dominate their play. She efficiently handled the situation by diverting things, quickly becoming spiderman and shooting webs at whatever she felt needed it.  For some reason my daughter had deemed all the grownups crocodiles and whenever we acted as though we were coming after them we would get generous doses of either spiderman webbing or crocodile spray.  My child is an interesting mixture of creative and practical hence she felt crocodile spray was the best course of action.  Anyway, these two played fast and furious until it was time for Magnolia Grace and her family to go and get lunch. When it was time for goodbyes she burst into hysterical tears at the thought of leaving the new friend she had made. My girl kindly went to her and gave her the happily obligatory departing hug.  They parted ways wearied from their play.

All it took was two individuals who decided they were going to have a good day. They didn’t need to know how each other thought about issues.  They didn’t need to be sure of all the opinions that they had in common.  They just saw two souls ready to have fun.  Maybe if we were willing to put aside our pretentious ways and just see a person and all the potential they had to offer, who knows what could become of us?  We might just be able to make lifelong friends in a matter of minutes.  And who doesn’t need a little more Magnolia Grace in their life?