“oooooh, it’s you.”

Dear Diary, an old friend of mine came to visit last night with his three year old daughter. I think she might be one of the smartest little girls I ever met. It was so much fun to have a little one is it us. Last night we pulled out the old toys from the basement , all smelly and damp and she had a great time with them. She warmed up to us all right away. Being they are from Lab City, I filled the table with fresh fruit, he filled my freezer with fresh lake trout. When I pulled out the stacking bowls for my little friend, Mira,  I said “Would you like the one yellow one?” , She said, “Yellow, that looks green to me.” Darn it, I looked and that yellow bowl had a slight green cast. We put the strawberries in the yellow green bowl, and the cream in the red (maybe pinky red) bowl. We spent the evening talking and playing and having fun. In the morning I went out to meet her at the hotel they were staying at for a few minutes and I was all dressed for work. I walked in and sat on the bed, and she just looked at me. I thought perhaps she was a little surly in the morning, like kids sometimes are. Her mom and I spoke for a minute and then her eyes widened, She looked at me and she said, “ooooh, it’s you!”. truthfully, I have rarely felt so important in my life time. Show a child a good time and they really let you know they like it and you.

So what did we do…oh not much, we chased the cat, the wandered around my damp cold basement and collected ping pong balls, we ate strawberries and fresh cherries, we made some beach towels for a couple of old plastic swimmer toys that had been in my bathroom drawer for ever. We laid on the couch, we held hands. My husband gave her a tour of the garden.

So sweet, so smart. So very much herself. Just Mira, enough as she is.

That is the beauty of children, it never occurs to them to be anybody other than themselves.

This was a rug from my show The Art of Visiting, I made of my friend, called Boy from Pt. Verde. When he saw it hanging at the Rooms Art Gallery in Newfoundland, he stood by it to have his picture taken . When the gallery staff said, “No cameras please. ” My friend said, “Do you know who is in that rug? That is me in that rug.” The man just walked away and let his wife take the picture.