In Honor of St. Patrick's Day

This happened over a year ago, but due to some proxy problem I could not get it posted last year. This year it works, so in Honor of St. Patrick's Day... Caitlin, a Girl Moment...

On a recent Friday one of my kids had a group event to attend. A few chaperons were needed, but I thought they had enough chaperons already, so despite really wanting to go to this event, I did not volunteer so as to not look too eager (it was not the type of kids' event that usually attracts lots of eager chaperons, and sometimes you have got to 'play the game'.) Well, luck was on my side, and at the last minute I was called upon to chaperon this event. I readily agreed.

There were about a dozen kids in this group, and, much to my delight; the mix of the group was skewed nicely toward girls over boys. I did my chaperoning duties, noticing all the lovely girls. It was quite a group of girls, ranging from truly gorgeous to cuteeven the least attractive girl was still quite cute. Even better, every girl was not just in my AoA, but in the core of my AoA, which is about 6-10, very roughly.

One girl in particular caught my eye early, Caitlin. She was not one of the prettiest (in the normal sense) but she was very cute, polite, soft-spoken, nicely-dressed, and had the most amazing, beautiful, BIG eyes. Sometimes girls just have a way of charming me, and boy did Caitlin have the magic. I said a few things to her during the program, and she responded politely. Later, everyone was having a snack. Caitlin was one of the last to get her snack, and was still eating her snack as all the other kids were ready to move on to the next thing. I was already sitting near Caitlin, when the leader of the event says to me, "zlurker, can you keep an eye on Caitlin until she finishes her snack?" OK, you do not have to ask me twice. So, I moved a little closer to her, to make sure no one else tries to sit between us. I ask her a question about her snack, and we begin chatting. After a few short exchanges, she really begins to open up, smiling, laughing a little bit, and absolutely charming me with her eyes. We talked about our birthdays and found that our birthdays were very close. (She was 7-years-old, by the way.) She had told me her birthday first, and when I told her my birthday her eyes just lit up. She told me about her name, and how it is often misspelled. I told her, "Yes, I bet people always try to spell it K-A-I-T-L-I-N", and I was right, and her eyes just glowed again. We chatted more about our favorite foods and snacks...

In the past I have never believed at love at first sight, and I still do not. BUT, if there is such a thing as love at two hours, then this is the closest I have ever come to experiencing it. Caitlin, in two very short hours, stole my heart like no other girl, not even my crush, Jen, has ever done. Every single day since then I have thought about her. My brief time with her is something I will never forget, and as joyous as the memories are, there is a bit of sadness because in all likelihood I will never see her again.

So this week at work I had a quiet moment when I was thinking about Caitlin and her beautiful eyes when suddenly the well-known song "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" came to me. I realized that with a slight modification, the song's chorus was prefect at describing how this lovely young lady made me feel.

When Caitlin's Eyes Are Smiling
When Caitlin's eyes are smiling,
Sure, 'tis like the morn in Spring.
In the lilt of Caitlin's laughter
You can hear the angels sing.
When Caitlin's heart is happy,
All the world seems bright and gay.
And when Caitlin's eyes are smiling,
Sure, they steal your heart away.

(Just for follow up, I DID see her again at a similar event this year. But this year the program was different, and I did not get to talk to her. But I watched her, and she is still an adorable little girl.)

In Honor of St. Patrick's Day - Caitlin, a GM...