Dear little girl...
I ran to take a movie back and get some coke while molasses and suzmonster waited for me back at the house. And I ran into the video store, and paid my late fee and came back out and next to my car was this minivan, the whole sliding side-door and everything. And there a very industrious (not to mention kinda hot) mom was hurriedly helping her daughter get her jacket on. In the mean time, her 5-8 year old daughter was making eye contact with me, and wearing her freaking adorable little bunny hat and I kinda mouthed/signed 'take your time hon' and even though her mom was trying to hurry, she gave me a big grin and sorta...exuded this 'it's okay mom' vibe that was this amazing (and cute) fundamental human communication moment. And...we sorta had a conversation through the window of my car, with eyes and smiles. I knew her mom would probably think it was 'socially unacceptable' for me to be paying that much attention to her daughter. So when they walked off she kinda did the grab-her-hand-and-pull-her-away-from-danger body language. I bet her daughter got the talk about 'stranger danger' when they got home. If she were my daughter, I wouldn't bother. She seems to have a better handle on it than her parents do. And? Her bright, beautiful little spirit was just...I don't know. It felt like being out during the christmas holidays, when sometimes people are just nicer to each other. It was friendly and...unspoiled by fear. There's not enough of that in the world any more. She made my whole evening...warmer.
K.