So grown up

Amy loves to talk about what life will be like when she's a "grown-up". And I enjoy listening to her interesting views of what life will be like for her in the future. Today, as we ran errands around town, she launched into yet another discussion on this topic. So I decided to ask a few questions in order to find out more details about her future plans.

She often tells us that she will live in a "giant, yellow house", because yellow is her favorite color. The color I can understand...but giant? I wondered where this materialistic-sounding desire came from, so I asked her why the house needed to be so big.

"Well, Mommy", she said, "It has to be giant. Otherwise I'll hit my head on the ceiling. I'll be a grown-up then, remember".

Yes, of course. That makes perfect sense.

Then I questioned her about what she will do all day. Will she have to do much work around the house when she's a grown-up?

Her answer: "Yes, I'll have to work really hard when I'm the Mommy. If the napkin holder gets empty, I'll have to go to the closet and get new napkins. Then I'll put the new napkins into the napkin holder."

Ah. So glad to think that all my efforts around this house do not go unnoticed.

Then there's the matter of working outside the home. Will she go out to work, and if so, where?

Her answer: "I'm going to work at the hospital, and it will be the same hospital that Nana works at. She'll see me at work and say 'Oh, hi Amy'. Then she'll go home and tell Grampy, 'I saw Amy today at work! You won't believe this, but guess what-she turned into a grown-up!'"

She has endless ideas about how wonderful life will be when she's a grown-up. I realize that soon enough she will discover that adult life is not quite as perfect as she believes it will be. Or maybe it is. Maybe if I can try to look at things through her eyes I can have a better understanding of just how blessed we really are. I'll try to remember that next time I re-fill the napkin holder...with some bright, yellow napkins just for Amy.