Riddles in the Water

Margaret watched from the patio as her grandchildren played padel on the community court, their laughter rising like morning birdsong. At seventy-eight, she found herself thinking more about the riddles of life—much like the sphinx she and Arthur had marveled at during their honeymoon in Egypt, half a century ago.

"Grandma, come play!" little Sophie called, waving her racquet.

Margaret smiled gently. "Your grandmother's running days are behind her, sweetheart. But I'll cheer from here."

She remembered her father, a stoic man who'd taught her to swim in the old quarry lake. "The water's your friend," he'd say, standing waist-deep while she dog-paddled around him, terrified and exhilarated. "Respect it, learn its rhythms, and it will carry you through."

Wisdom, she'd discovered, came like that—unexpected, in moments you didn't realize were teaching you until decades later.

The sphinx had posed its riddle to travelers: What walks on four legs, then two, then three? The answer was man—crawling in infancy, walking in adulthood, leaning on a cane in old age. But watching her grandchildren chase the ball across the padel court, Margaret thought there was another answer: love.

Love crawled when you carried your firstborn through colicky nights. It walked beside you through decades of ordinary mornings. And it leaned on you when Arthur grew sick, the way you'd once leaned on your parents.

Now, watching Sophie serve the ball with her father's determination, Margaret felt the water of memory swell around her—not drowning her, but carrying her. We're all swimming through time, she thought. Some of us run ahead, some tread water, some float contentedly.

She'd been all three. Running from grief when Arthur died, swimming through the quiet discovery of self that followed, now floating in this strange, sweet current called grandmotherhood.

"Grandma!" Sophie cheered. "I won!"

Margaret raised her hand in blessing. "You did, my love. You did."

The sphinx would understand. Some riddles answer themselves.