Girls, Green Shoes and Giggles

For those of you who are acquainted with our family, you know that our middle daughter, Emma, was always the quiet one. When Emma was little, Lindsay did all of her talking. I remember one day in particular when Emma, probably nearing 3 years old, came into the kitchen and simply said "nyeh nyeh." I was both shocked and perplexed. Emma never spoke, and now that she had, I didn't have a clue what she wanted. "Nyeh nyeh" she repeated. What in world...?! I pointed to everything, tried to give her everything, but all she did was stare, stomp, and give me a louder "NYEH NYEH!" Six-year-old Lindsay came floating through the kitchen in her fairy costume and high heels and simply announced "She wants a drink mom." "Hmmm...you think...?" One more look at Emma...nothing but an icy stare. "Is that what you want, Emma, a drink?" She only stared. I filled her sippy cup and handed it over. She took it, smiled half heartedly, turned on her heel and went back to play in her own little peaceful world. I thought to myself "she must get that from Brian." After all, I was never at a loss for words!

When Emma turned ten, we began to notice a little 'coming out of her shell' but still when meeting someone new or encountering a new situation, you could literally watch her "sizing up" everything with that signature stare. No words, no expression, just a deep...dark...stare.

This weekend I was taken back to Emma's younger days when she was...well...quieter. Our family journeyed together to visit church friends near Columbus, Ohio, about a 2-1/2 hour drive one way. There was no lack of chit chat in the truck among the girls. Brian drove, glazed-over in his own little world of thought -- rarely acknowledging the comedy unfolding in the seat behind him while Emma's nonsense made the rest of us either roll our eyes and groan, or bellow with laughter. I claimed ownership of the radio and turned on a station Emma didn't particularly care for. After each and every song she would interrupt her current conversation with "can we change it now?...please?...mom?...are you listening?...seriously mom...hellooooooo...earth to mom...can we change it?...ooookaaaaay...guess not" then she would continue her story as if she'd never missed a beat.

And the storytelling itself? Now let me tell you, you have not lived until you hear Emma tell a story. Starting with her "Okay, yeah, sooo....." and ending with her signature "LOL, right?!" Emma's form of chit chat is kind of a morph between common English and Text verbage. She rarely gets through a sentence without communicating "JK!" At one point in the trip Emma was the only one laughing at her own story, so she followed it with "Wow guys, THAT was an LOL moment...and none of you are LOL'ing." I think it was at that point that Brian, with his quick wit responded "OMG." (See, I told you she was just like her dad!)

As we reached the edge of Columbus, Ohio, everyone in the vehicle was getting hungry and Lily, true to her nature, needed a bathroom (I might point out here that when Lily asked to stop for a bathroom break, Emma declared aloud "Lily's sphincter is full!"). Brian exited the interstate, pulled into a Wendy's parking lot, and announced that he would wait in the truck while we bought sandwiches. Leaving the other girls behind, I rushed Lil inside as quickly as I could. The scene before my eyes upon exiting that bathroom will forever be etched in my memory right next to the "nyeh nyeh" episode of Emma's younger years. Standing there, at the back of the line, was Emma. A huge smile plastered on her face, she was wearing a purple t-shirt, blue and pink shorts, orange, black, and white striped fuzzy halloween knee socks, and her new lime green converse tennis shoes. Whose child was THIS?! This was NOT the Emma that used to need her big sis to talk for her. This was NOT the Emma who used to stare through whoever was trying to speak to her. THIS Emma was a comical jokester! Smiling and laughing, she was wholeheartedly enjoying the stares she was getting from everyone in the restaurant. I rolled my eyes once again (I AM the mom after all...it's my job), but inside I was giggling...she is SO much like her dad! ;)

"Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them. The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad." Psalm 126:2-3