children are scary sometimes

A lot of times when I have a job that involves large groups of children, complete strangers will come up to me, pat me on the shoulder and declare me one of the bravest people they have ever met. I never really thought of bravery being all that necessary when being around children.

During the trip to Ashland that my family took a few weeks ago, my Aunt brought her kitten, Mia. Mia is tiny and adorable. The entire week, we couldn't go more than three feet without someone stopping us to ask if they could pet her.
After driving through our second drive-thru tree of the day, a family with three little girls asked if they could hold Mia.
My Aunt passed her kitten to the oldest of the three girls.
She cuddled Mia gently for a few minutes and then began to pass her to the youngest girl.
The middle child did not like this. "Don't give it to her, she'll strangle it like she strangled the dog."
The mother rolled her eyes. "She didn't strangle the dog," she said. "Anyway, you're the one who almost drowned the Guinea Pig."
The middle child turned to me, stared me in the eye, and said, "I did drown the Guinea Pig."

I'm a state away from that family now and I'm still terrified.




much love,
hedgie