They Never Grow Up

A great side benefit of traveling by car to see Joel, Carissa and Ryan Daniel was that we had a lot of time to reconnect with Hannah.  Hannah has always been tons of fun to be around - but I remember commenting to Julie after talking with her on the way up just how much she continues to mature.  Just weeks away from turning 21 she has become a beautiful woman inside and out.

So, you have to understand that as we arrived in Salem I thought we were there with our mature daughter to visit our mature son who is now a father.  Well,  yes.  And no.

As it turns out there appears to be a cosmic affect that occurs when two mature siblings that have been separated for some period of time come within each others gravitational space. This affect causes significant behavioral regression.  Case in point.. check out Joel after less than 24 hours exposure.

Here's Hannah at about the same stage.

While we in Oregon Hannah decided that whenever we went shopping she was going to sit inside the shopping cart like she used to do when she was a child.   Here she is in Walmart doing a diaper run.

Later this same day we were shopping at Target.   Hannah, as usual, was riding inside the cart.  Then, Joel decided to join the fun and hopped onto the front of the cart; just like when they were kids.  At just that moment a woman with a 5 year old-ish daughter inside her cart came walking towards us from the opposite direction.  As she approached I could see a smile broaden on her face.  She obviously thought the kids were funny.  Just as she was passing our eyes met and I said to her "You know, they NEVER grow up!".   She laughed openly as she passed and headed away.   The kids cracked up too.  Because, it's true.  They never really grow up.  They just grow older.

I couldn't be happier!