Kids Say The Darnedest Things Sudoku Challenge 57/61

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Just Let It Go Story by Hayley Harrison / Staff Writer

I will totally own up to being the nonfun, rule-following parent. That is just my lot in life, and I’ve come to accept it. However, on occasion I get tired of being the wet blanket, naysayer and I want to be the cool mom, who’s just as much fun as dad. This led me to make the spur-of-the-moment decision to pick my daughter up from school via walking (she had been begging me to do this), instead of driving my perfectly capable, airconditioned car.

My moment of regret began shortly after I heave-hoed the cobweb-stricken stroller out of the garage and started down the street on three flat tires (insert hand-to-forehead slap here). My youngest daughter was enjoying her carefree stroll so much so that she was giggling and jabbering the entire time, and this made it absolutely impossible for me to disappoint her by immediately turning around and ditching the stroller. So onward to get big sister we went.

The gigantic smile that spread across my oldest daughter’s face when she saw me huffing and puffing down the last stretch of sidewalk to get to her, made every painstaking step, cuss word toward the stroller that I always say I’m going to replace but am undoubtedly too cheap to ever do so, and puff off my inhaler (I wish I was joking here) well worth it! She was absolutely elated, and I enjoyed the warm fuzzy feeling that fun parents must feel all the time! Flat tires aside, we were having the best time walking home. An absolute Hallmarkworthy picture of wholesome motherdaughter bonding. We talked about how her day had gone, discussed in length what she had for lunch, and I took much interest in her retelling of playground shenanigans. She must’ve been feeling the joy of the moment herself because she inexplicably reached out to hold her baby sister’s hand, which had previously NEVER happened. I was enamored by the warmth of the moment! Then, as we were getting closer to home and making our descent down a fairly steep hill, she casually grabbed an apple slice out of the snack bag, looked me in the eye, and coolly said “Mom, just let go of the stroller. I want to see what happens.”