A Bloody Mary and a Poor Sick Smiley

No, this will not be a repeat of the day Mary lost a tooth and bled profusely. Unfortunately, my girl has entire that time of life when . . . okay, I think you get the picture from the subject line. Anyway, she called me up and asked me to come over, but she told me she was hurting. I asked her what was hurting and she wouldn't answer directly, so that was my cue. I know her and I know how she thinks. She's not shy about anything at all . . . except this. But I promised to come see her, and so I did.

She appeared to be feeling much better than she had when she's called me. In fact, she dragged me into a longer-than-expected hike through the woods behind her house. A bit later we went to my house and fed the neighbor's ducks, then meandered down the road to visit a relative of mine who has daughters of his own. We arrived to a scene of chaos as all the children and the adults in the house were engaged in a game of hide-and-seek. Well, of course, Mary joined right in.

While I was there I noticed one of the girls, the youngest (who happens to be my favorite), (I'll call her Smiley), who's about 5 or 6, was coughing. The poor dear had a bit of a cold. Well, after she would be discovered, she'd come in and climb into my lap, snuggling up with me. Although not the prettiest of my relative's girls (though I certainly wouldn't characterize her as ugly in any way), she is absolutely the sweetest and that's why she is my favorite. Of the two youngest girls she's always been the most affectionate with me. The next oldest, Eva, is the prettiest but was, until recently, quite standoffish towards me. At a recent family event she finally warmed up to me, and I had her in my lap for maybe an hour, up until the time they went home. In fact, that night I had I pile of three girls--Mary, my niece Grace, and Eva--all in my lap at the same time! That's an 11-year-old, a 9-year-old and a 7-year-old respectively, and it was quite difficult to breathe, though I was happy. But in the end I wound up with only Eva, which was fantastic.

I digress. After hide-and-seek, Mary and I wound up back at my place, where we watched a movie, had dinner and wrestled around on the floor a bit before I had to take her home. All-in-all a lovely girlful day, although exhausting, and I felt bad for my little Smiley, who wasn't quite as smiley today as usual.