Bubbly Memories

When I was about five years old, my mother was, I suspect, desperate to come up with a way to get me to leave her alone for ten minutes. With my next oldest brother 10 years older than me, I essentially grew up an only child, and with a working mother, which was unusual in my neighborhood out in the country, I’m sure she when she was home from work she was trying to accomplish 25 things at once.

She handed me a styrofoam cup into which she had inserted a straw, dumped in some dish soap and water and told me, “Go outside, blow in this, and see what happens.”

I trotted out on our front porch, and began to blow. I was so excited to see the bounty of bubbles that burst forth from my styrofoam cup, I drew in a big breath to call out to her my joy…and inhaled a large amount of dish soap and water. I can almost remember the bubbles and soap and slobber dripping from my mouth.

Despite that rather wheezy memory, when it was our family’s turn to lead Religious Exploration (Sunday School) this last weekend, those bubbles came to mind.

We had laid out plans for several water play/water cycle activities for the children, and we were excited about the special bubble mixture we had mixed up. It was going to make “BIG, UNPOPPABLE BUBBLES!!!”

It did not.

So, we had to come up with an alternative quickly.

I popped into the pantry in the church kitchen, grabbed a stack of styrofoam cups, Yessa popped holes into all of the cups which allowed us to insert straws in the bottom like a very large pipe, and the kids began to blow.

It was a huge hit.

I did feel the need to say several times, “Don’t suck in!”

No one did. Kids are much more savvy these days.

I have no idea how my mom came up with the idea, back in those days without the internet, but I’m so thankful she did.

Water and bubbles, always a hit.