Slow Down You Move Too Fast

This week we had another reminder of how fast life moves. Or rather, I should say, how fast our children grow up.

One afternoon as we were having some relative quiet time while my son napped, and a bit out of the blue the doorbell rang.

My oldest daughter and I went to the door to see who it was and we were greeted with empty space. Instead of a person at the door, we found a note under a rock on our door mat.

The first thing I noticed was pink writing, so I figured it was a note from one of her friends. Upon closer look I saw the word "love" written over and over on one side. And then a part of me had a flashback to childhood days, recognizing that there may be something related to puppy love involved with the scene. We have had some ding-dong-ditching here and there, courtesy of a neighborhood boy in my daughter's class, and I smelled a connection.

Sure enough, as my daughter picked it up and read it she seemed to get a little embarrassed. I had already walked back into the kitchen, and when I saw her enter, cheeks a little blushed, she was ripping the note up into pieces with a little smirk on her face.

The little girl in me got a little giddy and said "what are you doing?" while giggling and trying to get her to give me the pieces so I could read it. Then my motherly senses kicked in and I backed off and asked her about it.

She just said it was a note from a boy (the one in our neighborhood) but that it said it was from another boy in their class. However she knows that this other boy doesn't live close by and that our little neighborhood boy doesn't really like this other boy. So she surmised that our neighbor must have written the note to play a joke on his "frenemy". That's my term, not hers.

I asked what it said and she told me it said this other boy liked her.

And that was it. Off she went to throw the paper shreds away. I stopped her part way to the garbage can and had her put the pieces in the recycling, since it seems I'm always thinking green. And truth be told, I was thinking that I might want to get those pieces back later.

Later on that night I couldn't take it anymore. I went to get the pieces out of the paper recycling bin in the kitchen. But my husband had emptied it into the larger bin in the garage.

So off I went to the garage, my mother bear senses kicking into high gear while my desire to find out what this note said turned into an outright need.

I finally fished out as many pieces as I could find and brought them into the family room and put them on the coffee table.

"What's that?" my husband asks.

"A love note that was anonymously dropped off for our daughter," I tell him.

"Seriously?" he inquires.

"Yup."

Together we put together as much as we could to decipher the note, even though a couple pieces were missing. Truth be told, my hubby didn't help much. I was the one that cared the most, at least until we read what the note said.

I was finally able to read most of the note, much of which said "love" over and over. But the first line said "Dear {oldest daughter}, I love you so much I want to kiss you with tongue twist. Love {other boy}"

Whaaaaat?!?

Since when do 8 year olds talk about kissing? And kissing with tongue? I mean, that shouldn't come on the scene for another few years at least.

"I'm gonna go kick his ass," my husband said. And he had a bit of a chuckle in his voice, but let me tell you, there was no chuckle in his eyes or on his face.

I try to offer a little defense for this boy, telling my husband that I think he's had a crush on our daughter all year. I mean he ordered 2 boxes of girl scout cookies from my daughter even though his mother was standing there telling him that they already had enough. He insisted on getting them and paying for them himself. And when those said cookies were delivered, about a week later he had an urge for more, and asked my daughter during class to come by later and deliver more.

I also reasoned with him that this boy has an older brother and sister, one of whom I was pretty sure was in high school.

And then I said "But really, that's just so in appropriate."

But what do 8 year olds know from appropriate? My husband asked if we should go talk to his mother.

I thought it over and just said we should let things lie for now. It was just kids being kids. Even if they are more mature for their age than they should be.

But really, our oldest daughter is perfectly happy with headphones on, plugged into an iPod, listening to Taylor Swift and trying to learn all the words to songs that sing about feelings she won't have for many, many years.

It is what it is. Life moving too fast.

I decided I'd go up and tuck our daughter in and just put it out there that I'm available to talk if she has any questions. I asked her again about the note and asked how she felt about it all. She shrugged and said she was fine and just figured it was the neighbor being a goof.

Apparently any concerns she had went into the recycling with the shreds of pink inked paper.

And while I hope she takes a bit of flattery from it, I'm not sure if she even knows what that is yet. But I certainly know that it didn't go to her head too much, as she wasn't prancing around or tucking the note under her pillow.

And the next day she was outside playing with the neighborhood kids again, as if nothing had happened. Not sure what this boy was thinking at the time. Probably that he got away with a good joke.

I think perhaps I'll leave a note at his doorstep next week that reads "slow down you move too fast".