What Addie Said

I was in the kitchen tonight just about to put dinner on the table (beef-vegetable soup with homemade tortilla chips) and Addie came into the kitchen, sniffing the air, saying, "Mom, that smells SO GOOD!"

"Have a taste," I said, handing her a chip.

She tasted the soup and said, "MMMM! Mom, that's really good!" [thank you, Bear Creek Country Kitchen]. She stood there for a second kind of wistfully stirring the soup.

Then, appropos of nothing she said, "When I was 4, I thought you were going to torture me when I got bigger."

"What? What do you mean by torture you?"

"I thought you would--you know, lock me outside and only let me come in for lunch or dinner and bed, and stuff like that."

"Why would I do that to you?" I asked.

"I thought that's what parents were for!" (how sad is that? too much cinderella!)

"So what do you think parents are for now?"

"To keep you safe and make you happy and help you choose the right so you can grow up and be a parent, too," she explained.

"That sounds good," I said. "Do you think that Dad and I are doing that?"

"Yeah! And now you're my best friend, too! And this soup is so awesome!"

I just cracked up and hugged her. It's so crazy how kids' brains work and how/what they deduce from life experience. For example, I made a mental note to myself when I was about six that the boy I married should be close to my age because if he were, say five or six or seven years older (like my dad was than my mom) then we would get divorced. Imagine my confusion when I discovered that my happily married grandparents were six years apart!

Anyway, I just love my girl so much--she's growing up to be such a sweet and thoughtful and helpful person.