Tuesday officially marked the beginning of my vacation away from the pub, the lab, and the metropolis that is Houston. My wallet, family, and friends dictate that I use this time to catch up with the faces and places I have not seen in so long.
Due to exhaustion and sleepiness, tidbits from the journey thus far will have to suffice.
I am at the age where plenty of friends have begun or are well into the process of having children. One of my first stops included visiting Jason and his 3-year-old daughter, Sienna. As I sat on the couch she ran through her assortment of invisible marker coloring books laying on the coffee table. The cover of one book included several Disney characters that I began to point to while saying their names.
“Oh, Tinkerbell, and Pocahontas, and Belle, and who’s that?”
Sienna points to Cinderella and says, “Princess”.
“Yeah, she’s a princess. Are you a princess too?”
Sharply and confidently she replies, “No, I’m Sienna.”
Kudos to her parents for that response. She’s very clever and had several of these quips in store for me while we played.
Something else that amuses me while around children is their concept of my relative size. I may be on the shorter side but am by no means tiny (at least my personality isn’t, therefore neither am I). However, this view is not shared by everyone as was demonstrated during another stop on my road-trip. While chatting with one of my childhood friends, her two-year-old takes a break from watching Lady and the Tramp to come out and greet me. Her father calls her back into the bedroom she left to continue watching the movie and allow some time for us to catch up. Instead of going back she says, “No Daddy, I want to play with the little girl!”
My friend laughs and says, “Ha, ‘little girl’”.
A few months ago I had to explain to another child why I was able to drive a car as I left to go get dinner. She began by asking, “Where ya goin’?
“To go get something to eat for dinner tonight.”
She see the keys dangling in my hand. “Is that your car?”
“Yes, that’s my car.”
She waits a moment before asking, “You know how to ride a car?!”
I was confused for a minute until I figured out she was asking whether or not I was able to drive. “Yes, I have to know how to drive so I can get to places safely.”
Now it’s her turn to be confused as she blurts out, “But you’re only a little girl!”
Neither her mom nor I could disregard her reasoning. I replied with, “Well, I guess I’m a little, old girl.”
