"You do not tell the Father his book is upside down!"

Our youngest daughter has a real sense of humor. She always loved animals and even then, she collected them. She still has both traits.

When we lived in Italy we used to rent a house for the winter with another couple in Courmayeur.

We would go skiing; actually the kids and the Moms went skiing. The other Dad and I would walk around the town, get cold and have hot chocolates, maybe even something a bit stronger, Grappa comes to mind.

We would have lunch and scout out the places for dinner. We were busy and caring. Back to the house for a nap, and wait for the crew to return from the slopes, ready to take them all out to dinner. As you can tell skiing for us was very physical. We both were big city boys and hated the cold, but not the atmosphere of a ski town. Real athletes are what we were.

When the families arrived, exhausted, and in no mood to go out, especially our youngest, I probably reacted strongly; after all, we Dads had planned the evening. We had scouted bars, restaurants, places to go, it was not easy.

During my minor tirade, our youngest says to the group, ”This is Daddy, when he comes home." She puts my hat on, grabs my briefcase (yes, I had brought work to the mountains) and storms into the room in a huff. She demands a drink and silence. She plops herself in an armchair, and opens a book. We tell her the book she is reading is upside down.” You do not tell the father his book is upside down." A devastating imitation of me to the hilarity of the others.

That imitation made me see myself in a different way. I am not sure I changed radically, but I thought about it a bit more. A three year old, supposedly making a joke, sorted me out. Funny, yes, making a point, yes.
She continues to do this even today. Funny, smart, a born teacher. By the way she is a teacher today, a great one.

I guess a good imitation makes you see things in a different way.

We did not go out that night, but ordered Pizza in, and she continued with her imitations, mostly of me. She was not going to waste that captive audience.