Some days hearing a gaggle of children screaming is all it takes to cheer me up. About once a week, teachers at the local elementary school round up all their students for a trip to the park. As they walk past our house, they are always chattering happily. Never are they annoying, just endearing.
Although it rains a lot in Seattle, usually it’s barely a drizzle that never lasts long enough to get you wet. But there’s always an exception.
During today’s walk, it began to pour. Fifty kids yelled in shock and delight as they huddled under the trees to wait out the deluge. They waited and waited. Drenched, they turned back after about five minutes. And then they ran, talking loudly and laughing all the way.
I captured the tail end of the crew in this photo. (You can see the water pooling in the neighbor’s side yard — literally five minutes had passed since it started raining. Less than an hour later we’re enjoying blue skies and a gentle breeze.) These joyful children are definitely a visual (and auditory) representation of hope for me.
What you described sounds delightful. I am a chronic pain patient and I don’t mind the sounds of groups of children at play, much like a recess at school or something. I -do- wonder, being in pain yourself, do you have any resources or suggestions for a ‘screaming child’ of about 8 to 10 years of age that lives next door and they scream outside for hours on end, angry screaming ordering the dogs and cats around, or yelling at her mom and brother. I cry in my bed with double paned windows between us because I’m hurting and she’s screaming.