My granddaughter, Tilleigh, 6, knows that she and her sister, Evie, 3, are the focus of my twice-monthly column about the joys of being a grandmother. Evie doesn't understand the text, but she likes seeing "Mom's" photograph [the girls call me "Mom"] that runs alongside my column.
Tilleigh, though, wants to know the content.
Tilleigh wasn't particularly thrilled that I shared with my readers a few months ago about her cutting her hair. Using child safety scissors [ha!], she had chopped off inches from either side of her face, leaving her with a bonafide mullet. She wailed when she saw herself in the mirror.
When I saw her later that day, she was still crying over the impromptu haircut. As I bent down to give her a reassuring hug, she looked up at me with tear-stained cheeks and asked, "Are you going to put this in the paper?"
Uh, yes.
By the time the article about the haircut was published, she was OK with it.
Last week, Tilleigh and her mommy [my daughter, Kacee], had gone to get an ice cream at a store in downtown Chattanooga. After they placed their order, standing by the cash register, Tilleigh picked up a copy of "Just Busted" and asked her mommy, in a loud voice, of course, "Is Mom in here?"
Kacee laughed.
"No, Mom's not in there."
Well, thank goodness. Neither "Just Busted" nor this newspaper's "Right To Know" is a place I ever want to see my name and photograph.
People standing around probably thought, "Poor kid. Her mother [since Tilleigh said "Mom"] must get arrested a lot."
Still, though, it was funny.
That's one of the countless joys of being around a child. You never know what they are going to say, and oftentimes what they do say is incredibly entertaining.
Contact staff writer Karen Nazor Hill at khill@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6396.