JourneyLeaf: Life a Page at a Time

When Eli's Uncle Dominic and Aunt Elizabeth visited in early July, they told us about a local game based on Martin Handford's classic picture book series Where's Waldo? All through July, twenty-five area businesses welcomed Waldo-seekers with a sticker on their front door. Somewhere inside they placed a small cutout of Waldo in his familiar red and white striped shirt. Participants who found the Waldo cutout got a stamp or signature in their "Waldo Passport." Then, on the last day of the month, a local independent bookstore held a Waldo party with prizes. It sounded like fun, yet our big move made participating seem impossible.

On Monday morning, however, we turned in the keys to the rental house and suddenly life felt lighter. Why not get a little done on the house each day but get out of the house for some Waldo searching too?

Eli and I soon fell in love with the game. The businesses were sprinkled all over town and thus I found myself going places I hadn't been in years but also discovering new spots. The Waldo stops were all small "mom and pop" businesses too, so I learned about new restaurants (including a BBQ place where diners can watch trains roll by) and creative shops that aren't run-of-the-mill. Eli's favorite? A gourmet popsicle shop tucked away in an industrial complex. He chose strawberry cream and it was definitely good, but I thought the blackberry lemonade mint was really something special.

We only had three days left of July, but somehow we managed to get all twenty-five stamps in Eli's passport before the wrapup party. Woo hoo!

The party was fun, yet it had its challenges. Eli was one of the smallest kids participating and that put him at a disadvantage. Eli was quite eager for the Pin-the-Glasses-On-Waldo game, but it was clear that the older, bigger kids had a better grasp of the strategy. Blindfolded Eli put Waldo's glasses across his neck like a bow tie.

The biggest kid there won the game and Eli's mood started to crumble. I felt bad for him, yet we had talked about the fact that you can't win every game and that not everybody attending the party would get a prize. It made my heart hurt to see Eli disappointed, but I steeled myself because kids need to learn that winning and losing are both part of life.

And then the tide turned.

Eli's name was pulled out of the hat for a door prize -- the gift certificate for the popsicles he loves so much!

A few minutes later, Waldo himself arrived. As one of the first kids to spot Waldo coming in the door, Eli got a gift certificate to the BBQ place near the railroad tracks! (Papa was quite happy about that one.)

As the party drew to a close, they announced the grand prize would be courtesy of the book store and would go to whoever won another round of Pin-the-Glasses-On-Waldo. "Mama, I'm going to win!" Eli said with great conviction. Uh oh. He was keyed up and it was getting close to his bedtime. This may end badly. Brian and I whispered plans to leave if Eli got too upset. But then the book store staff decided the second round of the game would be one-handed and that made the results more a matter of sheer luck. Eli was the last kid to go and...