Telling it like it is
One of the things I love most about children is their brutal honesty. Well, I really love it when I catch them observing someone else and I enjoy it less when I’m the target but it is still a good thing most of the time. Things like, “You’re too big for that shirt” or “Eeeew! You have a booger in your nose!”.
Today has been a little rough. We had hardware problems through the night so I didn’t get a shower this morning and was likely a bit “ripe” by the time lunch rolled around. I don’t have to go into the detail of what happens when you spend the night in a garage while chain smoking with the door closed. I can only guess that I look and smell like Pigpen.
I had Abigail and her cousin Eve today and with work I did not have time to make them lunch so I took them out to grab some fast food at Buger King. All was good because I largely kept my distance but when we got home I had my hands full and had to reach across Eve to unbuckle her from the seat. That poor little girl had my nicotine soaked shirt and way-too-long-since-a-shower arm pit smushed right up against her face. As soon as I pulled back she looked at me and said, “You Stink Uncle Tommy”. Plain as could be. Probably the clearest sentence I’ve ever heard her utter (and she speaks very clearly). It was like a thousand little knives piercing my inner ear.
I thought to myself, “Me?!? I stink!?!”. Apparently so. Kids just don’t make up stuff like that; Kids of that age aren’t so witty. And here I sit without a shower yet, assuming that my dog would like a utility to plug his overly acute beak. I’m assuming that the birds stopped chirping and the sky went grey, all because of my, how shall I put this?… my powerful and unmistakable (though regrettable) presence. Yuck on me! Time to go get wet.
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