When Carly was three, we had a nightly ritual called story time. I’d lay down next to her bed and regale her with the tale of Millie The Crawdad. Three friends (Hector,Delores, and Sam) were walking by the creek one day when they saw a crawdad sitting on the far bank in a lounge chair. As you might imagine….they were astounded. Even more so, when they heard her say, “hi kids, it’s a beautiful day, don’t you think?” Once the kids got beyond the initial panic of hearing a crawdad speak, a unique friendship began. Delores asked Millie if she’d like to accompany them to Bickley’s Pharmacy for a cherry phosphate. Off they went with the crawdad peeking out of the top of her purple backpack. As time went on, there would be other adventures. Millie would accompany the kids to Hector’s house for s’mores and milk and she finally agreed to go to St. Anne’s School for show and tell day. The four great friends went to Elitch’s and rode the roller coaster. Poor Millie got sick that evening as the cotton candy looked good but led to a cantankerous stomach. In the summer of 1991, they went rafting on The Arkansas River and attended a baseball game at the old Mile High Stadium. Some might think this is quite farfetched but that’s ok. Carly and her much younger dad relished those nightly escapades. She’s 27 now and we still have a laugh when we think about this silly story and how it helped her get to sleep. Imagination is a wonderful gift and being silly with your kids is time well spent.
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