Thinking Allowed: At the bottom of the pit

I asked Sophia if she wanted to help out for the community clean up of her gymnastics place. "Yes definitely." But then her grandparents who were visiting offered to take all the children to the zoo so I dropped the idea thinking that my kids wouldn't choose a clean up over the zoo with grandparents. Except the clean up involved emptying the pit and Sophia really really wanted to see the mysterious bottom of the pit. She deliberated and thought and then in her stubborn serious voice said "I am going to clean the pit." I was proud of her. I like community events where everyone pitches in to get an arduous task done in a short period of time. I have always wished I could have a community around me who would schedule canning and quilting parties to ensure my family was fed and warm all through the winter. And realistically, I wanted to see the bottom of the pit too and was planning on going with or without my children. When I was young during our lunch break from gymnastics we used to sneak into the pit, dig down to the bottom, transfer up pieces of foam, until we had excavated an foam igloo at the bottom where we would hide out and giggle. Years later I am still relieved that none of us were crushed our suffocated. So the bottom of the pit is a pit of happy nostalgia for me. Actually, I am a big fan of foam pits in general because they allow me to do silly things like double front flips without thinking twice. They appeal to my safe but reckless side.

Sophia was so excited the entire clean up. At one point I mentioned we could leave a bit early and she gave me a glare. It is an unusually large pit and emptying it felt endless. You pretty much have to throw out piece by piece. Piece by piece. Piece by piece and on and on throwing higher and higher as you gradually sink lower and lower into the pit. Thank goodness there were about thirty of us. As you get lower down the foam is coated in dust so we all wore face masks and banged them against each other to clean them before throwing them out to the gym beyond.

Part of the fun of cleaning out the foam pit are the treasures found along the way. As you might have guessed this mostly consisted of a lot of socks. But it was definitely worth it when I found one of our own socks. And then there are some bigger treasures, things that fall out of the pockets of thoughtless gymnasts. Sophia found a few coins which she got to keep and I found a cell phone which I did not keep. And after a lot of effort we were at the bottom. If you are not familiar with foam pits the bottom is actually a large trampoline (so that you you don't break your neck if you hit the bottom). Some brave member of our group went under the trampoline to sweep and vaccum up the accumulated dust. For about an hour while most of us ate pizza, bag after bag after bag of dust was passed up to waiting hands. Sophia insisted we sit and watch the bags being transferred up. And once the area under the bottom of the pit was clean the children jumped into the piles of waiting foam and they came pouring back into the pit like an overflowing cup of milk. As heaps of foam were shoved into the pit the line between gym and pit began to blur. It is much quicker to refill a pit than to empty it. And then everything had to be vacuumed - including ourselves. And since we were on a roll all the mats in the gym were wiped down with soapy water. Sophia was beaming and is pretty pleased that she got to stand at the bottom of the pit.