Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Your Inner Life Is Your Best Friend.

That's what M. told me last night. Isn't that true of everyone?

I met a four-and-a-half-year old at Passover seder the other night and we became fast friends, discussing such matters as parrot tattoos and afikomen hiding places.

As she planted herself on my lap, she turned to look at me and cocked her head. "When I saw you, I could tell you were a daughter," she said sagely.

"Really?" I said. "How could you tell?"

"Because you were sitting next to your mother," she answered.

My sister-in-law corrected her. "Actually, that was my mother. Christina's mother isn't here tonight."

A lot of explanation ensued, explanation about in-laws and faraway mothers and grown-up kids. It was too much for the girl, so she changed her assessment.

"Well. I can tell you are a teenager," she said.

"Why, thank you," I said. "Really, I am a teenager on the inside."

"You are older on the outside," she said, nodding definitively. "But on the inside you are a teenager."

"Yes," I agreed.

Sigh.

2 comments :

  1. Anonymous12:54 PM

    I was recently in a meeting at work, and a man said, "you're not 50 yet, are you?" I'm not. My kindergartener son will be a sophmore in college when I turn 50. Perhaps I'm younger on the outside than on the inside.

    Or perhaps the Baby Boomer who aged me by 14 years is just too self-involved to realize that there are other generations.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Teenager on the inside? Well, at least you can drive at this point.

    ReplyDelete

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