My youngest, Claire, is a bit of a chameleon. She can change color to fit the situation. There are definitely times where she BRINGS the color. I was told, without urging or comment from me (or her) whatsoever, by one of her teachers at the end of the year, “Claire is such a delight in my classroom. I looked forward to having her everyday. She is a ray of sunshine”.
My most immediate thought after that was, “well, that ray must die out just before coming home as we don’t get to see that very often!”
We know it’s there. We see glimpses. We even see IT once in a while. But, she tends to come home, go upstairs and spend her time in her room.
Except last night.
The wife wasn’t coming home. Will was gone. Gracie was out. It was just her and me. No car. No schedule. Nothing.
I decided to let it play out rather than force any issue. She heated up some leftover cheeseburgers and we watched “Worst Cooks in America”. She likes those shows. Anything fast moving. Competition. People getting yelled at. “Reality”. Ok.
After that, we watched an episode of Undercover Boss an episode of Kitchen Nightmares and then finally an episode of Freaks and Geeks. At one point during the evening, she remarked, “this is the most time I’ve ever spent downstairs. You probably like this!” To which I remained silent. Being smart/sharp, she then said, “you don’t want to respond that you like this because you think I will leave!”
Silent.
It was a great evening.
