Can't See The Forest For The Trees

So the first week of school was a great success all the way around. Peach jumped right back into the swing at her beloved GGMS, and Olive had absolutely no problem leaving the warmth of her mother's bosom for greener pastures and an awesome pony puzzle at her precious preschool. I now have a second grader and a preschooler - when did that happen?

Tonight, we took a family hike around our neighborhood after dinner. The hike and bike trail is literally steps away from our front door, and it circles the entire neighborhood for a lovely 2 mile walk. This is old ranch property, so there are lots of big old trees around the perimeter, and the trail winds through them in a very magical, Secret Garden kinda way. Peach and Olive have new metal walking sticks, and while they beg to take them every time, somewhere after about 15 minutes, when they realize it's easier to run and pick up rocks without them, T-Bone and I usually end up with them. Tonight was no different, and as we hit the homestretch, I had Olive by one hand and a stick in the other, and 50 yards behind me, T-Bone had Peach by one hand and a stick in the other. We walked by the park up the street, and there was a group of teen and tween boys at the pavilion, all on bikes and skateboards, having a rap session or a jam session or whatever it is the kids do these days. As Olive and I passed, the ringleader said, "Hi," while the others just stared me down. I said, "Hi," and we kept on trucking. A few steps later, he said, "Don't go to the left. There's trees." Or at least I thought that's what he said. I just kind of nodded and kept on, trying to figure out if he was forbidding me from coming into the park or if he was being sarcastic or if he was just a freak. Again he said, "Don't go to the left. There's trees on the left." Thinking surely I had heard him wrong, I said, "There are trees? What?" And he said, "On the left." I said, "Okay," and never looked back or stopped.

A few seconds later, when T-Bone and Peach crossed the hooligans' path, the ringleader said, "Hi," and T-Bone responded in kind, but he also waved. I heard some murmuring and then, "Sir? Hey, sir? Are you blind?" Yeah. The kid thought we were blind and being led around the neighborhood by small children. Okay - so we had the sticks, and I probably seemed (and was) totally confused by his repeated warnings of the dreaded trees. And it probably didn't help that it was getting dark and I still had my sunglasses on, but they're prescription lenses, and I really WOULD need a stick and a companion to get me around if I took them off. But a 3 year old? Come on, dude.