January 22 – “Going places”

We did have Cailyn around for a few hours yesterday.  Nathan was finishing off moving the last of their things and April had a training thing at UTMB that she had to go to.  Not my idea of a restful day off on either count, but they are still youngsters.  Chris had a meeting of the Wednesday Club to attend.  First one she has been to since before Mom died, I think.  So for a few hours in there it was just me and Cailyn.  We started our afternoon together with some kind of inventory check that she was doing.  She had a notebook and a pen, and we had to go into every room of the house for her to inspect whatever it was she was inspecting.  Upon her approval, a number went into the notebook, and we moved on.  I asked Chris about where she might have seen something like that, and in her all-knowing way, she smiled and said, “Of course,” as if me and the rest of the world should automatically know the mind of a four year old … girl.  Not happening.  I have to admit, though, her story of explanation was kind of interesting.  Here it is, best I can remember.

The other night when Cailyn was over we watched the movie, Princess Diaries.  We have the part two version, but we had never seen the first one.  We finally broke down and ordered it on Amazon.  We even got Cailyn her very own copies of both movies for her birthday.  It is by far her favorite when she is over here, I supposes since we don’t have Frozen.  No, I still haven’t seen that new classic as of yet.  Then Chris and Cailyn apparently watched the first one over again the other day.  So … while I was at the Post Office waiting for the fire department to show up (don’t panic.  Just read yesterday’s blog), they decided to play “Mia.”  That’s the name of the princess in the movie.  Now Chris made the mistake right up front of making certain assumptions.  She said, “So, Cailyn, I guess that means you are Mia?”  Oh, no.  Wrong assumption.  Chris backtracked nicely and began again, “OK.  So who am I?”  Better start.  Cailyn chuckled and said, “Well, Nani, you’re the queen.”  There you go.  When you do it right, you get to be the queen.  I’ll try to remember that.  But when Chris asked who Cailyn was going to be, there was a problem.  Not the princess (of course not?).  So what other character would she even remotely consider being?  After some cajoling Chris finally figured it out.  She wanted to be the queen’s chief of staff, the lady who walked around with a notebook and a pen telling the queen where she was supposed to go and what she was supposed to do next.  Ah.  She’s pretty young to have discovered the best-kept secret in the political/corporate/medical /religious (and probably every other) realm.  The true power does not lie with the president or the CEO or the doctor or the pastor.  Oh, no.  The real person in charge is … the chief of staff / administrative assistant / nurse / church secretary / (however that position might be camouflaged, er, called).  We better keep our eye on that little girl.  I think she may be going places. 

Oh, and I will confess at this point that she and I ended up watching Princess Diaries Two.  She even gave me the old elbow treatment a time or two when I started falling asleep.  But as to the vicious rumor that I continued watching it to the end after her Mom came and picked her up?  Well, that may or may not be true.  You’ll have to … uh … check with my secretary for an official statement?

Luke 13:30 says, “Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”

Father, help us learn to keep the whole power thing in proper perspective.  It all comes from you, anyway, so as long as we have you, we have all the power we’ll ever need.  Amen.