Saturday, my mother came down to visit us for a bit. We decided that we would take a quick trip to Walmart and run a few other errands. I drove, because I always drive when my Mom and I go places.
Anyway, I parked in the Walmart parking lot and climbed out of the truck. I opened the back door for Kiera and helped her out.
She yelled at my Mom as she stepped out of the truck, “Grandmommy! Don’t leave without us!”
I closed the door and Kiera held my hand as we began to walk around the back of the truck to meet up with Mom.
“Grandmommy can’t go without us.” Kiera began explaining. “She’s old.”
Oh yes. Those are the words that came out of my child’s mouth. As I choked, she reached out and took my mom’s hand too. We began walking to the door with Kiera between us.
“Well,” She continued to explain, oblivious to my inability to breath. “She is ooooold. She is an older woman.”
You know that moment where time slows down? I was having one of those moments. The short distance to the front of the store had suddenly turned into a mile.My mom chimed in. “Yup. I am old. I’m going to need a walker to get to the front of Walmart.” Kiera did not pick up on her blatant sarcasm.
“How old are you?” She asked in all seriousness, turning to Grandmommy.
“I’m pretty old.” Grandmommy responded with a smile. “I’m 105.”
I managed to remember how to breathe and quickly corrected her. “No, honey. Grandmommy is not 105!” I could just picture that conversation as we walked down the aisle of Walmart. I have no doubts that Kiera would have told a random person in Walmart that her Grandmommy was 105.
Thankfully, we reached the entrance and the subject was dropped.
I’m loving the random honest moments that she has. Half of that statement is truthful while the other half is sarcasm. It’s interesting to hear the things that come out of her mouth while I also cringe at some of the things that come out of her mouth.
Take for instance, a couple of months ago. We were getting ready to go out to dinner. I had decided that it had been forever since I had straightened my hair. I whipped out the flat iron, straightened my hair and was finishing getting dressed when Kiera and Aaron walked in the bedroom. I sat down at my vanity to touch up my makeup and Kiera walked over.
She reached out and touched my hair gently. “Mommy, what did you do to your hair?”
I looked at Aaron, whose face was turning red from holding in laughter. “I straightened it, baby.” I replied.
“Don’t you remember how Mommy used to wear her hair?” He said and managed to not laugh.
Kiera never took her eyes off my hair as she patted a section of my straight hair. “You can fix it if you want to Mommy. We have time.”
Now fast forward to Sunday night, when I apparently did not learn from that experience and decided to straighten my hair again. Kiera and I were doing some quick grocery shopping while Aaron opted to stay in the truck. As I leaned over to put an item in the basket, Kiera looked straight at my hair and said, “You look like an eighties girl.”
I’m fairly certain she does not know what an eighties girl looks like, but just to be on the safe side, I’m not planning on straightening my hair anytime soon.
Thankfully, I have learned that Kiera is not the only who can make her parents wish the ground would open up and swallow them.
Last week as we were dropping Kiera off at school, a van pulled up next to our truck. As I helped Kiera out of our truck, the dad climbed out of the van and began helping his kids out. He had a daughter who is probably around eight years old and a son about Kiera’s age.
The little girl gasped and said, “It’s Kiera! Hi, Kiera!”
I smiled at the kids as I helped Kiera put her backpack on. “Tell them good morning, sweetie.” I coaxed Kiera.
The little boy looked at me and grinned. “Are you her grandma?” He asked me.
And there it was. That moment where everything slows down… except it wasn’t me experiencing it this time. It was his dad… the poor guy. He looked up at me quickly before looking down at the ground. His face was beet red. “I… I don’t even know what to say.” He stuttered.
I laughed and assured him that I had a child who blurted things out and it was ok. Honestly, it stung just a little bit, but not for very long. After all the things Kiera has popped up with, I’m developing a thick skin.
Rowonna McNeely is a graphic artist for Willie’s T’s Screenprint & Embroidery. She is a mother of a four year old girl and step mother of two adult girls. Her crazy life includes a dog, Sloane and psychotic cat, Gracie. Both females. She is married to her prince, who is outnumbered by the opposite gender.
