20 Seconds

Dear Friends,

Having a great time, the weather is beautiful and the water is crystal clear.

Can't wait to see you all soon, Love, Mamacita

Upon writing my umpteenth blah blah postcard on our backpacking trip around Europe my friend Laurie, who was peering over my shoulder, told me this, "you know nobody will ever know what your trip was like if you keep giving them the bullshit overview. Nobody cares about the weather, it's what you talk about when you have nothing else to say and... how will they know that our version of "having a great time"entails sharing a bottle of Bordeaux from said wine region with a group of hotties amongst the rattling luggage on a bullet train headed for Barcelona, all the while passing back and forth baguettes stuffed with french fries and gooey Brie. When you write your next postcard just give them a 20 second vignette of one good time."

20 seconds on Lopez Island:

Dear Friends,

Four mamas went camping on Lopez island, just the mamas and their sons. No papas to put up the tent and chop the wood for the fire. No papas to haul the water and chase away the raccoons. And no papas to take pictures of the four little boys who decided to strip down on the beach and go skinny dipping, shaking their Gerber baby bums and giggling at each other as they took turns peeing in the water, the living version of Brussel's statue of Manneken Pis. And L who got a kick out of hovering his bum over the water's rim just enough so it would freeze. "Funny," he'd say and do it all over again. All that splashing and laughing and chasing while the fully clad parents and their fully clad children watched in horror from the shoreline.

"Daddy they're naughty," one boy told us. Oh yes, we are so, so, so naughty. Our bumper sticker now reads: "My kid watched your kid take piss in the Puget Sound." All my love, Mamacita