Red Faced

"Put the money in!" screamed a toddler sized Alyson as she sat on the electronic ride waiting for her mom to make the ride move and the fun begin.

Rita, her mother, for reasons I can't remember, didn't put the money in. Maybe she was trying to prove a point, like us mothers often do, or maybe she really didn't have any money.

This story is has become even funnier over the years as I have watched Alyson grow into a beautiful adult inside and out. Even now when Alyson talks about her adventures in New York or as I read about her travels through Argentina, I can't help but think back to the stubborn little girl screaming for the money to make the ride go. I wondered whether that fire within her that she showed at such an early age was the same fire that led her across the country and now across the world.

When I gave birth to my daughter almost three years ago, I figured sooner or later I would be sitting back like Rita watching my own daughter red faced and furious over something I wasn't doing or in this case, trying to do.

We were walking through Target. The basket was so full of odds and ends I didn't need that Josie had to get out and walk. She gladly obliged. Before she darted towards the Guest Services phone, I quickly grabbed her hand and kept walking.

"No!" She screamed. "I not holding your hand."

"Josie, you have to," I said.

"No!" She screamed louder and started to claw at my hand.

"Josie, it's not safe, you need to hold my hand." I said trying to remain calm.

"THERE ARE NO CARS IN TARGET!" She screamed as the color of her face started to blend with the red on the guest services phone booth.

"What?!?" I said for a minute thinking she was speaking incoherently.

"THERE ARE NO CARS IN TARGET!" She screamed as she forcefully started jerking her body away from mine in a psychotic rhythm. And she repeated it over and over in case there was any doubt in my mind exactly what she was saying.

Owen and I just stared at her as she melted down to the floor. She got quieter but still kept repeating over and over that there were no cars in Target.

"You're right," I said as I knelt down and picked her up. She leaned her head on my shoulder exhausted by all the work she had to do just to get me to realize how silly I was being. How silly I was to ask to hold her in when there was clearly no danger of being hit by a car.

"But you still have to hold my hand even when in doesn't make sense," I said.

"Otay," She said as I walked towards the checkout with Owen happily in the cart and Josie exhausted in my arms.