Around the Lakes

Seen around Harriet and Calhoun:
A man pedaling a bike meant for a 3-year-old, his legs frantically circling, going the pace of a stroll.A little boy feeding a duck with four adults towering over him, each with a camera.A mother duck balancing on one leg on a branch just skimming the water, behind her a little closer to land but still on the branch are four or five ducklings huddled together and sleeping.An older man wheeling a smallish row boat, blue, one wheel at the front like an oversized wheelbarrow, with a little girl following along with a life jacket already fastened. Five different languages, all punctuated by high notes and laughter.
Then, the moment that breaks the revery at all this life: a limousine full of teenage girls screaming out the open windows and the sunroof. I think of my two nieces and how, oh how, we can spare them (and us) the pain of being a teenage girl.

Then again, if there were ever a person who breezed through her teenage years I'm certain we wouldn't be friends. I suppose rights of passage are meant to be difficult?