Thursday, September 4, 2014

Horrifying Conversations with Mini: Not ANYTHING

I was taking a late summer swim with Mini recently, when she said something horrifying. I was trying to encourage her to work on her backstroke and I was telling her all the fun things you could do while floating on your back and kicking your legs. 

But she was having none of it. She kept telling me that when you race backstroke at a swim meet, you could hit your head on the wall (which is of course very true). So she was never going to do that.


I wheedled and wheedled and told her how great she could be and how she could do absolutely anything if she just tried. She gave me a funny look, an appraising look.

She swam over to the wall and grasped it with one hand. She looked at me over shoulder. "I can't do anything," she said.

"Honey you really can you can do anything if you put your mind to it!" I said back to her, while treading water a few feet away. My voice was filled with exuberance and encouragement. "You can do whatever you set you mind to!"

"But not anything," she said.

"Yes anything!" I crowed "Anything at all!"

She shrugged, raised one eyebrow and said: "Not murder."

I began to stammer. "Well no, not... Not murder.  I guess we... But we don't -- The thing is...I'm sure you understand the... I want to say that..." Then I just stared at her small face and wondered what the hell was going on.

"So I can't do anything and I can't do backstroke today." And with that she got out of the pool.


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