The other night Jenna got her feelings hurt when Roland scolded her for her bad behavior and sent her to her room. On the way she let out with, "I am never ever ever going to talk to you again."
Last night Roland worked his late shift and Jenna kept on asking for him because she missed him.
Kind of reminds me of the time when Jenna had a play date with one of her classmates from school. Normally Howard and Jenna played pretty well together - but I could sense that Howard was NOT in the mood for Jenna's playful taunting. We had both told her to let it go - but the more we told her NOT to taunt - the more she tried to egg him on.
Howard made a dramatic exit from our house. I couldn't let a five year old walk home by himself. I grabbed Jenna's coat and hand and we hurried after him - with huge gaps between us.
When he arrived at the corner I yelled to him NOT to cross the street - as he darted out and crossed by himself anyway. Jenna hurriedly passed me and caught up to him to egg him on some more. That just encouraged him to go even faster while I ran breathlessly behind.
Howard finally made it to the gate of his front yard, opened the gate, closed the gate and yelled at Jenna, "I don't want to ever see you again for a hundred years!"
And Jenna yelled back the same, "Oh, yea. Well I don't want to see you again for a hundred years!"
On the way home the tears turned into anger. She and Howard were no longer friends. They would no longer be getting married as they had planned. The world had ended.
As I suspected from Howard's behavior, he hadn't felt well. He remained sick at home for an entire week. Both he and Jenna went through withdrawal. A hundred years was too long. Heck. A hundred minutes was entirely too long. It was quite a long week for both of them. We finally had to break down and call Howard to find out how he was doing.
They forgot about being mad. They forgot about the hundred year wait. They were friends again. And the wedding was back on.
Children seem so much more forgiving than adults do. They don't hold grudges. They don't let the world get in their way. They are great examples - not always for getting along - but at least for bouncing back. I think that's great.
Ever read Robert Fulghum's All I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten? Great book! I would encourage everyone to read it. And then apply it to your own lives. I have a brother-in-law who seems to have applied this to his life. He is truly one of the happiest people I know. If we could all be more like children. Childlike - but not childish.
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