Just Call Her AL

You've heard her referred to on this blogspot as Yet Another Daughter, Sweetie Petite-y, or maybe even the Forgetful-Forgotten Child, but in reality we just call her AL. 





Albert Einstein that is. 

She is female, the third Critter of her gender to make the scene.  Also the shortest and most forgetful.  Yet she is probably the most intelligent of the lot.  And definitely the most logical, despite her ongoing battle with math homework. 





Like her namesake, she too thinks of time as a very abstract theory...






...one she doesn't entirely get.




AL could also stand for "Always Late".  It's almost as if she's slogging through jello while the rest of the world is wearing jetpacks. 



Oh, she can move fast, don't get me wrong.  I've seen her race across the lawn like wildfire... but instead of burning around the "home tree" ahead of her "it" sibling, she might just hug the towering maple and begin to minutely inspect its bark... which can go on indefinitely, as if there is nothing more interesting or important in the world.


And maybe there isn't...



She is easily distracted,
eats slower than a tortoise,
reads voraciously,
makes up her own languages,
writes beautiful prose,
and begins every other sentence with "Did you know......?"





Trying to rush her is like trying to melt butter with a glare.





She takes life and all it has to offer exactly as it comes to her.  What strikes her as fascinating is often overlooked by the rest of us.  As I breeze by on my latest urgent quest, she takes time out to muse over and appreciate... well... everything.

Different drummer.
Another time zone.
Head in the clouds.
Not on the same page.
Oblivious.
Spacey.
Blond.




Those cliche' can't touch AL.

There is no perfect word or phrase to describe her.  But let me suggest one anyhow...

"BULL-TOMANGO"

This is not a word I fabricated.  AL came up with it herself while still a preschooler.  It was her turn at charades, a game we played often as a family, simplified to accommodate the various ages of the Critters.  Spinning madly across the floor on her hands and knees, she had us stumped as to what animal (her chosen category) she could possibly be.



Tasmanian Devil?
No.

Whirling Dervish?
Nuh-uh.

Dog chasing its tail?
Nope.



"I'm a  Bull-Tomango, can't you tell!?



That there was no such thing didn't phase her a bit - she had thought of it, so obviously there was... we just hadn't heard of it yet.  If we thought about it, just because we hadn't heard about something didn't mean it wasn't real.



Hmmm........




So her reality doesn't always jive with what the rest of us are experiencing - so what?


Neither did Einstein's.


And just because the rest of the world is stuck in high gear, that doesn't mean she should be.  Frustrating as it is sometimes, I would like to be more like her.  Not tied to a schedule.  Unconcerned with punctuality.  Living totally in the moment... for the moment's sake.  Believing in Bull-tomangos.




It's all relative.