She put a lot of thought into the design. Drew a very nice picture. Put a dollar bill in there, and one of her school pictures. She even decorated the envelope.
She came to me a little while later with a problem. She wanted to make an acronym out of the word dad, using each letter to describe something nice about him. The problem was she kept coming up empty.
I've always held my tongue and made an effort not to bad mouth him in front of her. I knew she would have to decide on her own what kind of man he is. The "worlds greatest father" ship sailed long ago. She's not stupid. On the contrary, she's very observant. She knows he's no angel.
I tried to think of some nice generic things one could say about a dad to help her out. The first D was pretty easy. I suggested "devoted". What's the harm in a little fib to make my daughters life easier? Nothing.
The A... I thought for a moment, giggled, thought some more and giggled again. I looked at her and said, "Attractive?" She cocked her head to the side and ticked her teeth as if to say, 'Is that the best you can do?' I said, "It wasn't the first thing that came to mind, but it's nice."
Her response was to fall on the floor in fit of laughter that left her holding her middle. When she recovered she looked at me and said, "Mom, I'm not putting a curse word in his card." and then walked away laughing some more.
Yeah, this kid gets it.
She's got a firm grip on the fact that life isn't fair. But she understands, at least for now, that doesn't have to affect her level of kindness.
She understands that she'll catch more flies with honey than vinegar.
And... She understands my twisted sense of humor and doesn't look down on me for it.
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