Mah Jong Thursday And Fabulous Life Guard

My friend Carol does a lot of stuff and is very generous in inviting everyone to come along. This time she went above her usual, and relocated one of her fun activities to our local Community Center. She brought a few of her friends and their equipment to teach us to play Mah Jong. Our teachers, Jane and Julia have known each other for 35+ years (in other words, since 5Th grade, I figured). Jane was so smart and funny that I actually wrote a few notes - since I'm never going to remember her comment that she finally figured out that the mouse pee in New Hampshire has such a high pH that it melts the wiring in her car's air conditioning units and that's why she never goes to her vacation place in the Summer. And that's why she does the scorching Oklahoma Summer when she has a place in New England available. And the story about her house being struck by lightning and that she figured out that the strange smoky electrically smell was coming from the big black new hole in the wall of her spare room. So she calls up the small town (Oklahoma, of course) fire department, only to be told, "Finally! We've been waiting for your call!" But back to Mah Jong - very fun and nothing like the computer game. I can see how it could be addictive. I got a terrific set of tiles and by sheer luck won the only game we played. Not the best outcome, since I am OK with losing, but one of the other ladies isn't. I really wish I'd lost.

So, here is Daniel, one of the best lifeguards at the Y. He and a few others rotate mornings, keeping eagle eye on the Water Aerobics classes. And thanks to his diligence, not one of us has died! High praise. And he mimes the words (with gestures) while we exercise to the song, Sisters, from that old 40's movie, My Sister Ruth. Yesterday, while helping with the lane divider, one of the regular lady's daughter-in-law (so she is quite a bit younger than most of the class) gave a playful tug on the fancy rope thing marking the lane, and caught it just right, so that Daniel slipped right into the pool, just a few feet from me. I never saw two people look so surprised. The kid in me laughed. The adult in me should have worried about someone hitting their head on the side of the pool or some other disastrous outcome, but I didn't. Am I finally outgrowing that overdeveloped mothering/worrying complex that sees an accident around every corner?