Recently, Sunny did something so embarrassing to me that I thought I was going to die.
I ran into an acquaintance of mine whose daughter goes to school with Sunny. She is a very nice person and while I wouldn’t call us friends, we’ve always been friendly when my husband and I saw her husband and her at school events or randomly around LA. She asked me if I was around to iChat with the girls later that evening and I said sure. Later that night, we got on iChat and Sunny and Kaylie were being super cute. They were talking about everything from movies to their favorite songs, having a whole adult conversation when this woman’s husband happened to walk by in the background. He stopped to say hi and look at the girls iChatting. We said hi and Sunny said, “Hey, I know you, we see you at school all the time.” He responded with, “Yeah, that’s right, you’re in Kaylie’s class. Great to see you, Sunny.” The next words that came out of Sunny’s mouth seemed to me like they were coming out extra loud and in slow motion. “My mom has showed me your picture many times and I know your face. She says she loves you.”
Okay, seriously, that NEVER happened. Is she CRAZY? I don’t know what got into her or why she made that insane statement, but my face felt so hot I thought it was going to melt off as I nervously laughed and said, “Okay, honey, that’s not true.” Then Sunny really got crazy and said, “Yes it’s true! You do it all the time,” all indignant and sure of herself. She was acting mad like I was calling her a liar and I was acting like a crazy person trying to convince these almost total strangers that I don’t walk around my house holding pictures of this dude and the more I deny it, the more I realized that I starting to sound like a psycho who was trying to hide her true feelings of love for this complete stranger. Now Sunny starts crying. Half of me wanted to get off iChat, like, right now and the other half wanted to make sure that this woman knew I wasn’t secretly fantasizing about her husband and that I’m happily married. Thank goodness he and his family were gracious enough to play it cool and make me feel more at ease but seriously, I was mortified.
The next day, I picked up Sunny at school and guess who was there? Of course it was the dad picking up Kaylie. I got out of my car and he was there waiting at the front gate. As I walked up nervously trying to avoid all eye contact, I tripped over my coat. All I could think of was that this guy thinks I’m so nervous, I just tripped. And then he asked me if I was okay. And of course I was SO not okay as I was completely humiliated. Just as I got myself together, Sunny and Kaylie came out and Sunny acted like she had never seen this man in her life as she walked right past him and said to me, “Let’s get PinkBerry.” Like it never happened.
It’s really amazing how a 5-year-old’s reality is just so opposite of what a grown ups reality is. Sunny’s world is filled with rainbows and cupcakes and completely void of any self-awareness and well… My world is real.
does he look vaguely like some famous person you have a crush on? Maybe she got confused seeing him on a screen. My son thinks every football player on TV is younger brother ever since we watched his game footage on our TV.
SUPERB!!! Well – you do say you tell your daughter lies sometimes……she takes after her Mum clearly…!!! I LOVE IT! No doubt it made his day anyway!! X
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I feel like we’re kindred spirits a little bit.
aww thanks
This was so funny!!! Oh, my gosh! I know I embarrassed my parents quite a few times because a) I had no filter when I spoke and b) I had a HUGE imagination, so there’s that! My parents just got used to it, I guess, until I grew out of it, haha.
I think someone might be reading waaaay too much into what you wrote about your daughter and how that made you feel. It was completely unexpected, obviously, so your reaction was more than normal under those circumstances. I wouldn’t know how well I would do if it happened to me, but I don’t think it would be a reflection of my life. Some people need to lighten up!
By the way, I love your column! Keep up the good work!
this is amazing!
Take heart, the blinders should be coming off soon as her development progresses. Children and adults alike will fill in missing gaps in their memories. I would examine your own life and try and figure out what is making you so insecure that you got so flustered by this. To me it says you may not be as happy as you think and felt scared that you may have been exposed and scrabbled to prove to everyone that is not the case, you’re actually very happy. I don’t know for sure, I just have a 4 year old and I know how I would feel if he did something similar. I would feel like “kids say the darnedest things” and let it go after a little nervous laughter. The way people react to things in their life is very telling of a larger story going on.
Oh my god, so funny!!!