From the mouths of babes

Last night Auburn Aries and I went for a walk after dinner. I love going on walks with her.

At one point in our walk we were holding hands (which we do most of the time when we’re walking anywhere – even from the car into the grocery store). She started swinging our interlocked hands back and forth and said, “Thank you for bringing me into this world, ‘cause we have such a good time together.”

My heart melted right there on the spot. Then my brain engaged and I wondered how many eight year olds would say something like that. It never even occurred to me to say something like that to my parents.

As we continued our walk, we passed by an older Toyota 4x4 that was lifted and had extended fenders on it to accommodate the off road tires I’m certain had never been used. On the back of the tail gate it read “Dirty Dancer.”

Aries read it aloud, let out this exasperated sigh and said, “Some people think they have to be so hip, don’t they?”

Who is this kid and what has she done with my eight year old?

She even remembered a story about a guy I was with once who preferred to stay in and read or work on his computer rather than be outside. She said she “couldn’t understand why someone wouldn’t want to be outside. Being outside is great! Everyone should enjoy nature…even dog crap is nature. You know, stuff like that.”

Okay, THERE’S my eight year old. As my friend, Hot Momma, said this morning over coffee, “How long is she going to be 14?”

Well, Hot Momma, I wish I knew the answer to that.