True Life "Shorts" to Make You Smile

During a sleepover last week, my "highly expressive" five-year-old granddaughter came running in the room to share with me, in her words, "...a story that will really, really, really, really, really surprise you!" I knew it was going to be good when she gave it her "five-reallys" kid rating.

She proceeded to say, "Well...we were eating lunch at my school, you know my school where you went to the Halloween parade right... and a girl, I can't remember her name, ate her sandwich and didn't know her tooth fell out and she looked everywhere for it...but, (she takes a deep breath) she swallowed it and I bet you don't believe it right, Mimi...but it's actually 'really' true!" "She swallowed her tooth!"

Drawing on my standard Mimi acting skills, I expressed shock and said, "Well how is the tooth fairy going to come for her tooth if she swallowed it?" Apparently, that thought never crossed my granddaughter's mind until I brought it up and now she appeared genuinely concerned. Oh, my, what a dilemma!

Rather than my granddaughter having to deal with the disturbing idea that the tooth fairy might not show up for the little girl, which is so typical of her personality, she quickly added, "Oh, yeah, she found it...I remember that now." Not letting her off the hook just yet, I responded, "You said, though, she swallowed the tooth...so where did she find it?" I know you all are thinking what I was thinking!

The classic five-year-old drama kicked in and my granddaughter, casting her big, blue eyes toward heaven for some reason, maybe divine intervention, said, "Umm...umm...let me think...umm...oh, she found her tooth when she threw up I think." "She didn't throw up at school...probably she threw up when she got home and her mother washed off her tooth and the tooth fairy came...that night or the next night I think." What a kid...what a save! You gotta love it!

"Sure Wish I Hadn't Said That" Short

Taking all our grandchildren to Disney in Florida was a dream come true for me and my husband. The big day came and we headed to the park full of anticipation and chatter. My granddaughter, Chloe, (the same one above) woke up a wee bit cranky that morning, which is highly unusual for her.

I knew, though, she was tired from the previous day's flight and of course, the excitement. The norm for her was to get it together in a short time and then right back to her super happy self again...but this was not to be the case this special, long-awaited day at Disney.

Chloe's meltdown started as soon as we hit the Disney parking lot! Over an hour later, despite all our efforts to calm her down, there was my daughter wheeling Chloe down Main Street, USA in an umbrella stroller, screaming at the top of her lungs. It was earsplitting and quite unnerving to the passersby, but we kept our composure and ignored the stares.

My husband and I gathered our grandsons and moved forward in the crowd because the boys were feeling bad for their cousin and it was clearly stressing them out as well. As we made our way up Main Street, from quite a distance away, we could still hear Chloe's glass-shattering screech. I felt terrible she was experiencing such distress.

We stopped to let some people pass by and a man standing next to my husband looked up Main Street and said, "Holy crap...aren't you glad you're not with those poor people," pointing to my daughter, son-in-law and the still-screaming, Chloe!

With a big smile, my husband very calmly said, "These are my grandsons and that (pointing to the three-year-old wailing like a banshee in the umbrella stroller) my friend...is my granddaughter!" The guy's face instantly turned flaming red.

He apologized profusely, we had a great laugh and my grandson's were utterly hysterical! Two years later, they still rub Chloe about her "bad day at Disney." Eventually, Chloe did calm down, we had a fabulous time at Disney and brought home a funny lifetime "short" to add to the collection.