"That car is dented!" The day at the river where my 7-year-old daughter's comment had the whole family in stitches 🚗

7:00 AM.

We set off by car.

Our destination: the river.

It was my daughter's first time playing in a river.

—Though, there is something I should mention first.

The moment our family laughed the hardest that day wasn't at the river.

We had already burst into laughter twice before we even arrived.

📝 It all started with summer vacation homework

To begin with, why the river?

The reason isn't anything special.

There was an assignment to draw a picture of a river.

That's when I realized something.

My daughter has never played in a river before.

She goes to the pool several times a week. She can even swim a 400m medley.

But that's all within the confines of a square pool.

A river where you can see the bottom. Flowing water. Moss-covered stones.

My daughter doesn't know those things yet.

It's hard to draw something you've never seen before.

So, I figured I should just take her.

—And that is how our family's day trip to the river was decided.

Don't let homework be something that only happens inside the house.

🚗 Laughter #1: "That car is dented!!"

It happened while we were driving for a while after entering the mountain road.

A river on the left, a mountain on the right. In the middle, a white center line.

An oncoming car was heading toward us.

When that car was still about 50 meters away,

my daughter's voice flew from the back seat.

……Dented?

I squinted to get a better look.

It was a gray roadster.

It wasn't dented.

Not even a millimeter dented.

In fact, it was the kind of car that looked incredibly cool.

But apparently, that's how it looked to my daughter's eyes.

She thought a car that had been squashed from above was driving toward us.

At that moment, the car was filled with laughter.

My wife and I couldn't stop laughing.

My daughter didn't understand why everyone was laughing.

And that was funny in itself.

I held back my laughter and told her this.

As I said it, I thought to myself, that makes sense.

Our car is a minivan.

The position where my daughter sits is quite high off the ground.

Looking down from that height, a sports car certainly does look squashed.

My daughter wasn’t lying, nor was she trying to be funny.

She simply spoke exactly what she saw from her eye level.

—We just see different scenery.

I feel like I’ve written about this kind of thing on note a few times before.

I never expected to be reminded of it by a Roadster, though.🌿

🌿 Laughter #2: “Well done.”

And, a little while after that.

We hadn’t reached the river yet.

On the slope by the side of the road, there were words made out of shrubbery.

Written in the trimmed plants, it said:

It’s that sort of thing you often see at tourist spots.

My wife and I were about to just glance over it.

At that moment, a voice came from the back seat again.

……Skillful.

It is an overly skillful observation.

No, it certainly is skillful. It is skillful, but still.

As an evaluation for the person who made it, it is far too accurate and far too short.

The inside of the car was enveloped in laughter for the second time that day.

My daughter, once again, did not understand why everyone was laughing.

I was thinking while laughing.

Someone is trimming those bushes.

Shaping them and maintaining the letters.

For that work, a 7-year-old offered the most honest words possible.

Not 'amazing,' and not 'beautiful.'

Skillful.

—Is there any praise greater than this? 🌱

And so, by the time we arrived at the river, we were already exhausted from laughing.

Even though we hadn't even put our feet in the water yet.

🏞 “Whoa, it’s so cold!!”

Well then, finally, the river.

We parked the car and went down to the water's edge.

My daughter put on her life jacket and plunged her feet into the water without hesitation.

And then, her first words.

The water from the mountains is still plenty cold, even in August.

But she didn’t seem scared at all.

As expected of a swimmer, she’s right at home.

She no longer has any fear of the water itself.

You can see the stones on the bottom clearly.

When you put your feet in, the water gently pushes against your calves.

It’s a sensation you don’t get in a pool.

I, too, enjoyed this coldness for the first time in a while.

🐟 Pale chub are fast

After a while, my daughter grabbed a net.

Her target: pale chub.

They are small fish that swim swiftly through the shallows.

My daughter was serious.

She crept up quietly, took aim, and—whoosh—swung the net.

——Nothing.

Once more.

——Nothing.

The fish are overwhelmingly faster.

In the end, we couldn't catch a single one.

But her face looked happy the whole time.

Chasing them is more fun than catching them.

That's the kind of time it was.

Come to think of it, since when did we

I wonder when that started.

My daughter isn't thinking about anything like that at all.

She seemed satisfied just running around in the water with a net.

🪨 Slippery. It's slippery no matter what.

The river is tough in its own way, though.

The toughest part was the moss.

The surface of the stones is faintly green.

That is more slippery than you'd imagine.

I also slipped many times.

I didn't fall. I definitely did not fall.

I just lost my balance a few times.

My daughter fell down hard twice.

Fortunately, she wasn't hurt.

It was a situation where the life jacket and the cushion of water saved the day.

As an occupational therapist, there is one thing I want to write.

The biggest difference between a pool and a river is the soles of your feet.

The bottom of a pool is flat, uniform, and predictable.

The bottom of a river changes with every step—the size of the stones, the slope, and how slippery it is.

In other words, the amount of information coming from the soles of your feet is completely different.

Your body receives that information and readjusts its balance.

You slip, feel a jolt of surprise, and take the next step a little more cautiously.

This is a sensation that definitely doesn't develop inside the house.

I think that even the act of falling is part of playing in the river.

Of course, I kept a constant eye on the depth and the current.

🗻 Calling out at the echo point

On our way back, there was a spot called an echo point.

It was a name that said it all.

When you shout, the sound hits the mountain and comes back.

My daughter shouted with all her might.

...Yoo-hoo, the mountain echoed back.

It resonated quite clearly.

It's more fun than adults realize.

We also crossed a large bridge.

The river, seen from above, reflected the green of the mountains and was a deep blue-green.

I thought then that I was glad we had started moving since the morning.

🍃 Conclusion—The star wasn't the river

Back home, I thought back on it.

The river was beautiful.

The water was cold, the fish were fast, and the stones were slippery.

Our echoes rang out, and the view from the bridge was nice too.

But, what I remember most about this day is...

Just those two words that popped out in the car on the way there.

Before we even reached our destination, the highlight of the day was already over.

Sometimes, days like this happen.

A day with a child, perhaps, remains in memories like this.

More than where we went.

What we said in the car, and how much we laughed.

I have a feeling that's it.

—By the way.

The all-important homework drawing hasn't been drawn yet.

I wonder what my daughter will choose to draw from that day.

Was it the cold water? The pale chub that swam away?

Or was it the dented car?

I think I'll keep my mouth shut about that part and just wait. 🌿

What was the one comment that made your family laugh the most?

And in what car, heading where, was that comment made?

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