This one nearly brought a tear to my eye. When I was a kid I used to like to bury crap in the yard. I’d mark it somehow – with an x in the dirt or the snow or something – then I’d go back and dig it up. The point was to see if I could find it again. Well seeing as how I had put a mark on it, it wasn’t all that hard. One day I decided to bury the keys to the shed and not put a mark on it just to make it a little bit more of a challenge. It probably goes without saying that I lost those keys until the following spring when the snow melted. Crazy kid I was burying crap and losing it sometimes. I can still remember that feeling – I can still feel that pit in the bottom of my stomach after losing those keys.
Today Elizabeth was outside playing while I was cooking dinner and I noticed her come back inside, lay down on the couch and start crying quietly. I asked her what was the matter.She said she buried her toy rabbit; couldn’t find it; put an x in the dirt but still couldn’t find it.
I had never told her before that about how I used to bury stuff when I was a little boy. She came up with burying stuff all on her own.
I’m not exactly sure why I got a little bit choked up. Maybe I’m just amazed at how much my little girl reminds me of me when I was a little boy. Or maybe I’m just still feeling sorry for that little boy who lost those keys. Either way it still surprises me how much these kids bring up those old feelings – sometimes good, sometimes bad – but I wouldn’t have it any other way.