How my heart stopped

I have a daughter. She is almost 5 years old. I have come to realize that at this age, there really isn’t much, in the way of fear that I have, to deal with. As a father, I have gotten used to dealing with disappointment (not letting her watch Clifford morning to night, not letting her have chocolate instead of any other food, and her not being able to vote for Obama even though we tried to explain the whole age thing), dealing with temper tantrums (related to above), and dealing with statements like daddy you’re the worstest (which, by the way, changes according to whether she is getting the above or not). And sure there is always what will happen when she grows up, starts dating, gets married (probably to a younger version of me considering that she now wants to marry me), etc.

So you can imagine my shock when I came home last night from dog walking class, not to teach our dog how to walk, she is already pretty good at that (although you should see her on the wood floor, talk about laugh out loud), and was told that my daughter, the almost, but not even five year old, has a crush on a boy. Imagine at this point the loudest, most annoying, ear shattering, want-to-curl-up-and-die-underground noise. That is what I heard. But that was just the first part. Then I was told that my not even 5 year old wants to kiss him. Stop… call the paramedics… heart stopping… can’t breath… need help… too late... flatline...

I am not ready for this. I don’t know that I would ever be ready or how one gets ready, but I know I am not ready right now. Of course, as a father, this is something that gets dealt with differently then with a mother. And that holds true for our house. Andrea thought it was sweet. Andrea was reminded of her childhood and could relate because that was when she had her first crush. Isn’t sweet! No, it’s not and it needs to stop… only I don’t know what to do. Ugh!

So that was my night. But when one lives a gifted life, there are always wonderful things happening. So this morning while we were making breakfast, making lunches, and getting ready to go, Mia, Andrea and I were talking about marriage. Mia had stated she wanted to marry me (isn’t it cute). This is a conversation that happens with some frequency. It changes from time to time and sometimes she wants to marry Andrea. Well, this morning Mia said that girls can’t marry other girls and boys can’t marry other boy’s. We responded that they could. And Mia responded with “not in this state”.

What is she learning at daycare? How does she know this? I mean, really, how would she know this? What do you say in response? WOW!

Well, she is amazing and continues to be each and every day. Hopefully she won’t want to watch Clifford tonight.