"It IS a booty day!"

...that was my thought on my drive to the mall...and actually...on my way home from the mall.  it reminds me of something that my little cousin said once.  When he was in his "i repeat whatever you say to the best of my ability" phase.  My little cousin, Bradley, whom will be 6 at the end of this month, and my mom were walking along somewheres...probably a few years ago and my mom said, "It's a beauty day!"  And Bradley "repeated" it back and said, "It IS a booty day!"  He wasn't able to enunciate all of his letters...what 3-year old can? I laughed when i heard that. just like i chuckled when i heard it in my head today. 

i love that little man.  sometimes he brings me back to the simplicity of life.  the stresses of playing with toy trains and coloring a page from a Batman coloring book.  i've also been learning the power of the tongue.  how damaging a word can be...or how very uplifting one could be.  Last week in particular, I was having a rough time with the patients at work.  As a patient sitter, i have the fun job of telling the patients just what they can't do.  now...you try telling a detoxing patient they have to stay in bed and "sleep it off" before being evaluated by the psych nurse.  it's not the most fun thing to do.  I've been called every name in the book.  I didn't realize "the book" was so thick! holy moly!  these guys come up with everything!  "I'm gonna have you fired!" "You get the hell outta here right now or i'll give ya something to complain about!"  "You're dumber than a box of rocks!"  "You're just a bump on a log...you don't do a damn thing!" or the more 'light-hearted' requests like; "I gotta get the door. the pizza man is out there with our pizza."  (at 3:30am)  "Go get me the half gallon of Bacardi." (at 3:31 am) "Go get me a swig of that rum over there."  "Bend over and pick up my cat and put him up here on the bed." 

Ya know...normal stuff like that.  So...all of that rolled up into one week of work, and i was about ready to grab that half gallon of Bacardi...that swig of rum.  ...just kidding. you can't drink on duty. ;) I'm just playin'.

Anyway...my point. I'm reaching it.  Sometimes, all it takes is a word, or a sentence and it completely diminishes all of the crappy words or sentences that have been fed to you.  So last Friday when my mom picked up my cousin Bradley to go look at the speed boats downtown, the first words out of his mouth were, "Is Erica gonna be there?"  I hadn't planned on going because i had worked Thursday overnight and was working that Friday night.  My mom called me around 3pm when i was taking my mid afternoon nap before work and woke me up.  I was a little peeved.  just a little...cuz i was sleeping.  She said, "Say hi to Bradley!"  She had me on speakerphone. I said in an excited tone, "Hi buddy!" I heard a soft boyish "Hi!" in the background and my heart melted and i felt a smile on my face.  "Bradley's first words when we got in the car were, "Is Erica gonna be there?"  my mom said to me.  I laid my head back down and thought, "Gosh, how could i say no to that?"  I said, "Aww he did?"  So i said, "Ok, i'll come." 

For that short while, i felt important.  even to an almost 6-year old.  it's the little things...that aren't really things.  when we came to the cross walk to head towards the boats, he reached up and grabbed my hand without saying anything and just kept walking.  im certain i smiled then, too.  i think it's safe to say, that little man loves me back.