She Said No
The boys and I went to McDonalds for dinner last night. We collectivelly decided to get our happy meals and eat them at the "train park" - rather than in the restaurant or home. When we unpacked our dinners at the park we realized that we got two 'boy' happy meals and one 'girl'. This wasn't a big deal because August is pretty oblivious to the whole toy thing. But Jackson had a nice idea:
"Why don't we give the girl toy to a girl at the park?"
I thought - this is a nice, giving gesture so why not? "Sure, why dont you do that?" I said. "Not me Dad, you can do it. I dont really like girls." Well as nice it was to hear him say that, I wasn't going to do it. I'd be way less charming and 100 times more creepy. So Jackson suggested: "Porter will do it!"
So we called over Porter (who was on on a slide at the time of the conversation). Jackson gave him the mission and immediatelly Porter started looking for girls and even called out "Girls!", waving the toy. He spotted a girl with her parents on the other side of the park, and ran over to them, before I could hardly register whether it was the right thing to do or not.
Jackson, August and I just watched. That's all we could do, because they were so far away we couldn't hear the conversation. We could tell what was happening by the body language. Porter was showing the toy and talking. The girl and parents looked at him, and talked back. A few moments pass. Then we watched Porter bow his head, and start walking back - slowly.
He came to us, and seemed devastated with his big eyes, "She said no!" He could not fathom why she said no, and seemed generaly hurt and perplexed why anyone would say no to a McDonalds toy.
In retrospect - we'd probably say no to a random child giving gifts to our kids too. But that was amongst the several theories Jackson and Porter made about why she said no. "I know Porter - you have to say it was FROM McDonalds - maybe they didn't know." "Maybe she doesn't like toys." "Maybe they thought it was from the garbage."
Anyway - it was a unique and cute story - about the harsh reality of being rejected. It can only go up from there Porter.
"Why don't we give the girl toy to a girl at the park?"
I thought - this is a nice, giving gesture so why not? "Sure, why dont you do that?" I said. "Not me Dad, you can do it. I dont really like girls." Well as nice it was to hear him say that, I wasn't going to do it. I'd be way less charming and 100 times more creepy. So Jackson suggested: "Porter will do it!"
So we called over Porter (who was on on a slide at the time of the conversation). Jackson gave him the mission and immediatelly Porter started looking for girls and even called out "Girls!", waving the toy. He spotted a girl with her parents on the other side of the park, and ran over to them, before I could hardly register whether it was the right thing to do or not.
Jackson, August and I just watched. That's all we could do, because they were so far away we couldn't hear the conversation. We could tell what was happening by the body language. Porter was showing the toy and talking. The girl and parents looked at him, and talked back. A few moments pass. Then we watched Porter bow his head, and start walking back - slowly.
He came to us, and seemed devastated with his big eyes, "She said no!" He could not fathom why she said no, and seemed generaly hurt and perplexed why anyone would say no to a McDonalds toy.
In retrospect - we'd probably say no to a random child giving gifts to our kids too. But that was amongst the several theories Jackson and Porter made about why she said no. "I know Porter - you have to say it was FROM McDonalds - maybe they didn't know." "Maybe she doesn't like toys." "Maybe they thought it was from the garbage."
Anyway - it was a unique and cute story - about the harsh reality of being rejected. It can only go up from there Porter.
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