Many summers ago on a hot muggy day, the family was making a quick car trip from Minneapolis to Winthrop, MN. The littlest girl, almost four, could only ascertain that they were visiting some relatives that lived on a farm. But, farmers of plants or animals she did not know. Never seat belted in the back, she sat between her similarly unsecured older siblings and looked down at her red Keds missing their shoelaces. Unbridled somewhere else in the vehicle she could hear the baby of the family as well. All settled in the car and off they went.

After a long drive, everyone arrived safely at the old farmhouse where many happy greetings were exchanged. The littlest girl in her orange dress, studied the old faces and put them to memory. However, it wasn’t long before their adult conversations lost her interest, so she ventured outside through the back screen door.

From the back step she scanned the outstretched farmyard with umbrella like shade trees. And there in the middle of the thick soft grass lay a single pink plastic hula hoop. She had seen them before but never tried one of these toys. Excitedly she ran towards it, jumped into the center of the pink plastic hoop and picked it up. It took a few tries and wiggles before she quickly mastered the pink hoop around her waist.

Many, many years after picking up that first pink hoop, that woman still loves to spin a plastic hoop!