Say Your Prayers, Varmint!

a.k.a: Grammy's Revenge!


I know that I have mentioned before that the older you get, the more aware our bodies are of how cold the water can be. Thus, when we are on family vacations, the kids play willy nilly in the lakes....while the grown ups park their fannies on the beach. If it is hot enough outside, I still like to get in the water....but sometimes it is harder to get in than I wished it was.

But, I digress.

My mother did a very surprising thing while we were at Farragut. The kids, particularly Kyle, had been giving Grammy grief all afternoon. Splashes here. Splashes there. They were truly relentless. Grammy was throwing back some grief all afternoon as well. Threat here. Threat there. Even if all the splashes and threats never mounted to anything, they were all having a lot of fun.

Over time, some of Grammy's threats started showing a little more buffoonery. Every once in a while, she would charge into the water, puffing up her arms like a peacock on alert, heckling them along. The kids thought that was hilarious and would charge back into the safety of deeper waters, giggling all the way. At one point, I remember asking my mom at what point does she go charging in after them. She told me that she was contemplating it....but I never really thought that she would go in after them. The kids clearly thought that she would never go in after them.
Boy...did she surprise us all.



So the mantra became: "Say your prayers, varmint." Translation: You have thrown around enough guff....now sit there and take your medicine.

Kyle, of course, was the first target. He had been taunting and teasing more loudly and more relentlessly than all of the others combined. I haven't decided if he has gotten some sort of death wish or something.

Of course, the other kids thought that having Grammy in the water and dunking people was just too priceless to ignore. The heckling picked up to a feverous roar. They all must have had death wishes, too......


Grammy must have really done some damage to those kids' egos. I just sat there and laughed as I watched kids, still throwing out the guff, mind you, paddle themselves clear across the bay to avoid the dunkings. It is easy to throw out the threats when you are out of range!!


Even after Kyle had been dunked a time or two, he still came back, begging for more. (Sorry about the picture, Mom....it tells a story! Besides....I don't think it looks bad.)

Silly boy. Doesn't he ever learn?

Lots of fun. Lots of laughter. Lots of memories. And....a lot of prayers.