The Crossing Guards

     We were at the park at 7:30 this morning.  They have crossing guards at every block surrounding the park, which is near a school that is open in the summer..  And they are all different.  First near Rite Aide is this tall (almost 6 feet), young black woman who is always smiling, almost laughing, as she greets you and lets you cross the street.  She wears her black hair up in a swooped cone on top of her head.  She is very regal and innocent and she seems like a kid in a candy shop.
    At another crossing a middle aged white woman, with a very plain short bob, greets you checking to see how everyone is doing.  She says in a little bit she'll be going on her break (it's now 9:20), and then she'll come back at noon, and then when the kids get out at 3.
    The third crossing guard is a young black man whose hair is braided and he has a back pack on.  He seems a little overwhelmed with the process and takes it all very seriously. He didn't smile or say a word, just came over to help us cross the street.
    At the top of the park is a young woman, thin, not smiling, just helping you cross the street and being done with it.
   It's summer and a few minutes after we arrived the fountains were on for the children to run through.  Jordan has made it a habit for several months to go out with the twins before going to work.  Of course this is after being up with Tess from 5:30 on, feeding the girls, dressing the girls, cleaning up the kitchen,etc.  By the time she goes to work she's already done a fulldays work.
  Two mothers and one father arrived at the park with their nanny.  The nannies were all black and overweight.  They stood there while the parents watched their toddlers for a few minutes before going to work. They looked embarrassed and bored.
   I watched this one very thin mother in a cute summer dress bring her 2 year old into the kids play area.  The nanny stood there as the mother ran around with the little boy.  She was about 20 pounds over weight in cut off jeans and a tee shirt. I wondered what she was thinking as she watched the mother play with her son.
   Yesterday I went with Marie to a swim party in the afternoon.  There was 12 toddlers and 9 nannies, all from "the islands" Marie said.  Six of the women were overweight and everyone sat around and watched the children get in the wading pool and play in the wet table.  There was no water or refreshments for the adults, just a wet table, a wading pool, and a sprinkler for the toddlers. I was the only white adult at this gathering, and the twins grandmother.  Normally the nannies would feel uncomfortable with me around, but I don't seem to upset them too much any more. Marie has a whole group of nannies she has "play dates" with.
   It's a whole world within a world, these few blocks surrounding the park, and in the morning you get the whole mass of humanity going to work, taking their kids to school, older people wandering the neighborhood.  In LA everyone would be in their car and in traffic.