Grow up


Sören and I were eating pizza Monday night, and I felt like I was getting the benefit of a meal with Plato. Or maybe Jung.

Back story: We had gone to see the ballet Sunday afternoon, and as we were leaving, Sören did what an 8-year-old who has just had two hours of ballet will do. She was dancing. Leaping and pirouetting. Unfortunately, she was doing this on the staircase. And she has somewhat less training than the ballerinas on stage. So she fell down the stairs, and when I say fell, I mean the kind of falling where you're tumbling. I started to run after her to make sure she was ok, but by the time she had come to a stop at the bottom of the flight, she looked at me and flashed me a look that said, "Do NOT embarrass me." I slowed down but still approached her. An usher went up and kneeled by her side and asked if she was OK. Sören stood and insisted she was fine. I arrived, took her hands, and we walked out the door. As soon as we were around the corner, I asked her if she wanted a hug. No, she's really fine. Now, I had seen her pull this kind of thing before, like when she almost fell through the ceiling in the garage, and she would say she was find and then 30 seconds later she was sobbing in my arms. I was expecting something like this, but no, she was really fine. No crying.

So, back to Monday and pizza. Sören said (perhaps apropos of nothing, I don't remember the conversational starting point) that parents don't want their children to grow up. I told her that this was not necessarily true; we just want children to grow up at an appropriate pace. She argued her point for a while, and finally got to her central theme. "You wanted me to cry yesterday like a baby, just because I fell down."
"I didn't want you to cry, Sören, I just wanted to make sure that if you needed to cry, you knew it was safe to cry with me." I reminded her of the time she had a scare in the garage, but she pointed out that that time, she had hurt her hands. This time, she wasn't hurt.
"Besides, if we grow up, you will feel old. That's why you don't want us to grow up."

Ow.

So, is this the point where I realize that next week I turn 39?

Below, photo of Sören with her cousin...


Posted: Thu - November 2, 2006 at 12:48 AM        

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