It’s starting to get hot here in Missoula, Montana and last week I picked up my older son from school with all the stuff we’d need to go swimming at the river. We drove to this beautiful spot filled with little purple butterflies and set up our towels with a picnic. We played in the river and found a toad. Everything felt magical and I thought, “This is the dream. This is what I’ve been waiting for, being able to bring my kid to play in nature with no fuss, just river time on a hot day.” We got all packed up to go, so I could get my younger son, and I picked 2 big round dandelion puffs so we could blow on them, watch the seeds fly, and make wishes. My son blew on the seeds and said, “I wish I had no Mama.” Then he blew again and said, “I wish I had no Dada.” Then he blew on it a third time and said, “I wish I had a million starbursts.” My feelings were hurt until I figured out that he was wishing for endless candy and assumed that with Mama and Dada around, he wouldn’t get to eat all of it. He was right.