Tears and Laughter: Time does indeed keep on ticking…into the future

Four days after I turn 42, McKenzie will turn 10. “Double-digits,” she likes to say.

She has switched at this point from counting down the weeks to counting down the days…and to be fair, let’s just say she is much more excited about turning 10 than I am about turning 42.

She has made a list of places she wants to go, things she wants to do, and gifts she would like to receive.

She edits this list almost on a daily basis.

She seems to get so much enjoyment out of the planning process that I haven’t yet bothered her with limits or reality.

She tells me she doesn’t so much want to have a party, because she may be getting too old for that, but that we will need to plan on getting up really early that morning.

She wants us to drive to “wherever we need to drive,” to buy a meerkat.

Originally, she wanted a monkey. But a very polite employee at the Montgomery Zoo assured her one hot, humid day last summer that, “No. No you don’t.”

Now if you aren’t familiar with the meerkat, it’s some rodent looking animal that looks like a cross between a cat and a squirrel. They are natives of Angola and South Africa.

The nice people at Animal Planet made an entire series, Meerkat Manor, about the life and times of meerkats. They gave them names and followed them around with cameras and now McKenzie thinks every pet shop in the state should have them.

I remind her that we already have a fabulous cat, Chowder, who is almost always conveniently located in the garage sitting on top of the four-wheeler — and he might not appreciate our bringing in a meerkat.

She says if she can’t find a meerkat, then she wants her own dog – a beagle – because evidently the three dogs we currently own aren’t enough. Plus, she saw a beagle at the vet’s office and she said he was absolutely the cutest dog she had ever seen in her life. She said she could just tell. She could see it in his eyes.

She also wants her daddy to catch her a flying squirrel…if he can, or a baby fox squirrel. Either way. As long as it has red fur, not grey.

Then she wants to buy a turtle. She already has a “habitat” planned out in her mind. She says she just needs an aquarium, some sand, and some driftwood. And then she wants five fish…which she will pick out once she gets to the pet shop, but she is sure she wants a yellow one, an orange one, a blue one, one with spots, and one with stripes.

She isn’t only concerned about herself though. Often as she is talking about all of her plans she will stop and ask me, “Mama…what do you want for your birthday?”

I always tell her that I haven’t decided yet, that I am still thinking on it…and then she continues on with her every detail.

I think maybe what I want is to be like her. I want to be thrilled to be a year older, and happy just to be in this world full of life.

And if I can keep her 10 a little longer…that would be pretty great too.

Amanda Walker is a columnist with The West Alabama Watchman, AL.com, and the Wilcox Progressive Era. Follow her at: https://www.facebook.com/AmandaWalker.Columnist.