Creating a monster

The other night, Ava and I were playing in the backyard. Olive kept barking at these two girls riding in the alley behind our fence, so much so that they were scared to ride by our house and turned around. Normally I wouldn't care, but knowing my own daughter would likely be in that situation some day I peeked through the shadowbox fence boards and told the girls it was cool and the dog wouldn't bite them....she just likes to bark. I then found myself engaged in conversation with two 8 year old girls who had apparently long-admired the swingset and other toys in our backyard.

Then they asked if they could come in the yard and play.

Again, knowing Ava may be in a similar situation, I told them they had to get their parents for me to talk to. Parents come walking down the alley a few minutes later, we introduce ourselves, no I'm not a felon, yeah it's cool if your 8 year old daughter wants to come play with my 2 year old. 8 year olds ask a lot of questions...things like "do you have a job?", "are you married?", "does your house have a second floor?", "does she have her own room?". It became very apparent why after hearing about how these two girls (not related) respectively are living in very small houses, with lots of siblings and/or relatives, with step/parents who may or may not really give a shit where they are. I have always been one to complain about not having one thing or another, or to want more of this or that. Don't get me wrong, these girls didn't look abused or anything. It was just obvious that they were incredibly jealous that Ava had a dad who played with her, a back yard full of toys, a dog that didn't bite, and her own room to get a peaceful night's sleep in. I hated to kick them out, but it was getting late and we still had a bath, a book, jammies and toothbrushing to accomplish. I may always want more, but that little encounter with those girls made me realize how well off we really are. I have a great job, a huge house, two cars in the driveway, a dog, a beautiful daughter and a wife that loves me (for the most part) and every now and then I get to ride my bike. Life can always get better I guess, but right now I'm pretty thankful for everything I have and for the opportunities I've had to get them.

So apparently the following day, Celia had to deal with the monster I had created. Like clockwork, the girls were knocking on the front door every 15-30 minutes asking if Ava could come out and play.