This morning as I was leaving to go to work, I heard the sounds of a fiery vortex annihilating the world coming from my living room. It was pretty early for this to be normal, so naturally, I went to investigate and see what all the shouts of terror and desperation were about.
Turns out Marni was sitting in her red full length, non-skid closed feet, zip up from the front, flannel pajamas watching the movie Antz. It was the scene with the magnifying glass.
She was so engrossed in the movie that she didn’t notice me enter the room. I thought I’d keep it that way and leaned over and softly kissed the top of her head and started to leave the room to head to work unnoticed. Or so I thought.
Marni turned, looked up, smiled, and said “Oh, hi!” And as I waved bye-bye she said, “No..! Zudha!” Which, as any Lemony Snicket fan knows, means “Hey, you forgot a to take a drink to work. Let me get one for you.”
Marni slid off the couch and went over to the little refridge and, completely unprompted mind you, grabbed two gold Cokes for me to take. We placed them in a little white plastic bag, and I said thank you, and she nodded her head with great satisfaction, adding confirmation “Zudhas. Yes.”
Thinking my Jedi training was done, I got another “wait!” from her as I was putting on my jacket.
Marni reached down to her own hand, slid off a little shinny plastic ring with a green plastic gem, handed it to me, and said clear as a bell, “pinky.” She then pointed to her pinky, then to me, just in case I didn’t get the message.
She wanted me to put on her green ring and go to work with it.
Marni obtained her Green Lantern status from church. The ring has recently been her most prized possession, and she won’t let her brothers touch it, much less look at it. For her to part with such a treasure… well, I doubt it’s possible to put into words.
I slid the small ring onto the first knuckle of my pinky. Marni smiled, then she got the front door for me and gave me a hug and a kiss, waving goodbye as I left.
I can’t help but think there’s so much to left learn about relationships from actions of a three year old.