The kiddo who doesn't sit still

"You know, mom, there's something I've gotta tell you......"

In the nearest Baskin-Robbins, sitting across the table over a half scoop rocky road and half scoop mint chip icecream piled up on a cake cone, Nini looked at me with a hesitant and stern expression on her face.

"What?" I blew my nose loudly with the store's free napkin.

"You look awfully ugly when you cry." With some determination, she finally said, as if that was some kind of discovery.

I responded with another loud nose-blowing, "So WHAT?"

"Nothing... just......"She looked at me with careful contemplation, "just thought you should know that..."

"Good," I cast her a glance back, "At least I look pretty when I don't cry."

"Well, mom," She licked her icecream, "I didn't really say you look pretty when you don't cry; all I said was that you look ugly when you cry!"

That's Nini, my daughter, lively, talkative, carefree yet sensitive, and honest, sometimes brutally honest. Just like me but minus the pessimistic side of me.

"Okay, I get it," I gave my nose a final blow, "I'll stop crying then and let's go. You know what? When someone's skin is broken, blood comes out; when someone's heart is broken, tears come out."

I don't usually cry; in fact, I rarely cry. Whenever I cry, it's about Didi, the boy in our family who never seems to be able to sit still.    ---------  More to come