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Sunday was the picture of fall perfection: 70 degrees, sunny and all the trees were dressed up in their fall splendor. Kiki (16) and I decided to take advantage of the day and headed downtown to one of the bigger parks.

It’s good to be outside and walking, enjoying the scenery. Kiki doesn’t waste any time. She wants to talk and starts up a “game.”

“We each take turns asking each other a question, and you have to answer truthfully,” she says.

Hmmm, kind of like Truth or Dare, only without the dare part.  As long as she doesn’t ask me another one of those uncomfortable questions about my past, as she has a habit of doing.

“Okay,” I tell her. “You go first.”

“What is one moment in your life you would like to go back to and experience again,” she asks.

“I don’t think I can pick just one (long pause here): Right after you and Mae were born, not the labor part, but after; first kiss with your dad; and our wedding reception.”

“Not the ceremony?” she asks.

“No, not really. Too nerve wracking. There was so much leading up to that day… all the planning and everything. And it was very formal… I think I would have done the ceremony part differently, if I had to do it over. It was such a relief to finally be married, and then the reception was such a blast.”

“Your turn,” I tell her. “What is something that you’re afraid of?”

She starts to say something about not being accepted and loved and then… ”Or do you mean, like how I always have to look under the bed?”

“Yeah, more like that kind of thing.”

“Well, I’m afraid of losing my memory, not being able to remember anything,” she continues. And I’m afraid of people getting cancer.”

We both know what prompted the loss of memory fear, seeing her grandmother go through the stages of Alzheimers. I’m not sure where the cancer fear came from.

I tell her some of my fears and then the game sort of goes to the wayside. She asks me if I ever imagine the kind of guy she will marry, and do I think God tells people who they’re supposed to marry.

It’s funny that I do imagine the kind of guy for her. I even prayed about future spouses for both the girls that morning in church (not sure why it occured to me to do that, but now here was her question).  I told her what I thought, and retold my story, again. 

Sadly, we have to finish our walk and head to a nearby coffee shop so that Kiki can do some homework. Once there, I pull out my book and Kiki gets to work on her math. Whenever I look up, Kiki is still flipping through her book, looking for examples, I imagine.  We move to a table outside where it’s a little quieter. After another 20 minutes or so go by, I look at her paper and she hasn’t written one problem; I catch her staring off at something down the street. She sighs and says “Let’s go home. I can’t concentrate here.”

So there ends our lovely fall excursion. We pick up our conversation in the car. And at home, Kiki hunkers down and gets her math done. 

*  *  *

Mae and college news:

Mae came home with a picture she drew for a 2D Design class. She got a 100% on the assignment and received several compliments on it as it was hanging in the hallway of the art building. I guess I can still brag about my child’s artwork, even if that “child” is almost 19. 

This picture doesn’t really do it justice. I don’t think there’s a straight line in the whole picture. It’s made up entirely of squiggles. I can’t wait to see what she does next.