Li'll Nell at Roxbury Park

Li'll Nell grabbed my little finger as we walked to Roxbury Park. . It was a clear cold sunny day in Beverly Hills. This time, I did not need to bend down for her to grab my little finger. She had just turned two and was at the eight percentile of her age group. As always she disdains the stroller and demands to walk.
   Karen, her mother, would pick her up later from the park. For the first time in a week. the rain took a day off. A bit cold, it felt good to have my God Daughter holding on...in fact it seemed to provide me with new found energy. Li'll Nell was born a few miles from here, at Kaiser Permanente on La Cienega on the last day of January. She has a radiant smile and long dark brown hair. Everybody raves at the deep brown long eye brows. We crossed a street and entered the Roxbury Senior Center. I needed to return a book called the  The Crazy Two's.
    She dislodged my hand an ran after a squirrel that scampered up a fir tree and then set her eyes on the sand box area close to the metered parking lot. Bit first L'll Nell pointed to her shoe. I removed her gold colored shoes and she eagerly began to play in the sand with the toys she received for her second birthday. 
     Yes it was cold but the hot sun made me remove my sweat shirt. Nell began to talk to her toys as she built them shelter with the sand. The full hot sun must have done wonders for her and my mood. She ignored me for several minutes while she engaged a young kid who shared his water bucket with her. 
     Many years ago, my two daughters played at Roxbury Park. In fact, my Dad watched with glee as his grandson took soccer lessons and played in a junior league. It seemed like yesterday that I was pushing them on the swings. It was then I heard a familiar noise. It was the sound of an ice cream truck. 
    Pictures of various ice cream bars were painted on the side of the truck. I picked her up and she pointed to the yellow Popsicle. The kind driver threw in a bottled water with the yellow Popsicle and fudge bar that I ordered  
    She grabbed the treat with two hands after I had pinched out an opening. We returned to the sand box bench. A vision of me waiting for the Good Humor truck came into view. I was only about five years old when Mom had given me a dime for an ice cream. We were living on Holt and Airdrome in West L.A. 
     At exactly four o'clock I heard the welcome song to the tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb.  I walked across the empty street and the white truck stopped for me. 
     "Hi George...Let me get what you want. Here is your chocolate chip ice cream cup." I took the cup and sat down on our front porch  I opened the lip of the cup and sampled the treat using a small flat wooden spoon....and then..."
     "Papa, want to go back to the sand." She handed me the wrapping and stick and stuck her feet back into the cold sand box Just then I felt a knock on my back. It was Karen, who came just in time as Nell began to get fussy, and of course needed a nap and nourishment. 

Nuts and Bolts for Today:  Life is all bout holding hands, or if a bit little, fingers. You need to rry it sometimes