Friday, February 06, 2009

lola b.


I sat once on a bench in a park, alone with my thoughts. From seemingly nowhere, a child appeared. She stood in front of me with her pom pom pigtails standing at dog ear attention, her little brown belly peaked out from the bottom of her shirt. I thought at first that she had mistaken me for her mother, but as she inspected me I could see that that wasn't the case.

"Hi", I finally said out of discomfort.

"Hi", she said without any apparent discomfort.

"What's your name?", I asked.

"Lola B." She made no indication that she would be moving along anytime soon.

I leaned forward and looked left and then right wondering where her mother might be.

"Hi Lola B. I'm April." I mumbled, taking note that the name Lola was back in vogue.

"I like your earrings." She informed me.

"Oh thank you, I made them."

Lola moved closer and inched her little bottom up on the bench uncomfortably close to me. She looked up and smiled. I smiled back. She kicked her legs. Pink Mary Jane's went back and forth, back and forth. She twiddled her thumbs. She had chipped polish on her tiny nails.

"Purple is my favorite color." She said after a while.

I was still looking around for a parent.

"Purple is my favorite color." She said again.

"Oh, mine too! That's neat. We have the same favorite color. Where's your mommy?"

She pointed across the park to a strikingly beautiful black woman holding a baby in a sling, engaged in an animated conversation with another woman. Her large hoop earrings flopped from side to side.

"Oh." It was apparent that Lola wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. So we sat. I stared at strangers through dark sunglasses and Lola swung her feet. We didn't talk. We smiled at each other every now and then. We were just girls together on a park bench one afternoon.


It was nice.

12 comments:

Burgin Streetman said...

your family pictures are gorgeous! ;)

Burgin Streetman said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Krista said...

i love this post. a lot.

Anonymous said...

That is so sweet. Once a little girl walked up to me. Then she realized I wasn't her mommy and started screeching...lol

lulusparkles said...

little miss lurker here.
had to comment on this post tho....i adore that sweet story,
please keep sharing!
i enjoy reading your blog oh so much.

Laura said...

did you take her home?

Unknown said...

I wanted to, but I think we are looking for a little sister. This girl would have had Thom in a pretzel crying for merci in two seconds flat.

wendy said...

What a simple "pleasure" Watching children can be pretty inspiring. And, I tell you this all the time, but you find the most amazing photos for you Blog. I think you are one who surrounds herself in beauty.

Spiralz said...

aw! what a sweet story!

Hana said...

What a cute story. Love the photo of the bench! I remember walking up to a woman when I was a little girl thinking she was my mother. I grabbed hold of her leg and was swinging around on it until another little girl walked up to me, stared at me and then asked why was I hanging on her mommy!

Tara said...

So sweet!! i love warm stories like that...thanks for sharing it!

Anonymous said...

http://lolabboutique.blogspot.com/

have you seen this store before, it's lola b's. i read your post and thought of it right away.