Generations of Lava

“Gaahh! Mom! You’re standing in the lava!”Mom and Dad had taken us kids to see the movie ‘Krakatoa, East of Java’.
(Okay, yes, I know that the title is geographically incorrect, but that was what it was called.)It had scared me to death. All my young, six-year-old mind could think of after that was trying to get away from the slowly-flowing river of death.And my favourite game became the daring death walk over precariously-placed pillows across the lava lake that was the front room.I was at it again.And Mom wasn’t cooperating.“Oops! Sorry!” Mom jumped lightly onto the closest pillow.Whew! That was close! I didn’t have a lot of Moms to spare. I’d sure hate to lose this one.For hours, my brother and I made up scenarios that necessitated leaping back and forth across the pillows and landing, temporarily safe, on the couch or coffee table.It was fun.And, nimble kids that we were, we never got burned even once.
Fast forward a few years . . .My kids were downstairs playing.I went to check on them.They had pillows placed at strategic intervals across the family room floor.“Careful, Mom! Don’t step in the lava!”Now, where did they get that idea?The déjà vu was frightening.And, moving forward again - a lot of years . . .Recently, my daughter and I were visiting in the front room, seated comfortably in recliners.Her daughter and another granddaughter were playing.They had been through the toy box.And had graduated to hiding under piles of cushions on the couch.Giggling.A few minutes went by.“Careful!” the three-year-old said.I turned to see what they were doing.They had set the cushions out across the floor in a line and were hopping back and forth along them.“Stay on the bridge!” the three-year-old cautioned. “Don’t get hurt!”The two-year old jumped off the last cushion and onto the floor.“Gaahh!” my daughter and I said together. “You’re stepping in the lava!”Okay, now I see where it comes from . . .