Buying Affection

There is a family in my neighborhood that I grew up with. The oldest daughter was just a year younger than me and we played together a lot. They are a great family. The daughter is now happily married with three adorable little girls. I am on pretty good terms with her oldest daughter-we are pals-and consequently, the younger ones are okay with me as well. This family also has a son who is now happily married and has an adorable little girl. They now live in the neighborhood, too. Their little girl hasn't been as sure of me as her cousins are. And if you know me, you'll know that I wasn't okay with that situation.

One day while I was shopping at Harmons, I saw a display with some My Little Pony fruit snacks on sale. And I formed an evil/genius plan: I would buy her affection with fruit snacks! Every time I saw her at Church, I told her I had a treat for her and gave her a fruit snack. The last couple of weeks, she has even given me a hug and a kiss in exchange for her treat.

Well, today I had my ultimate reward for my bribery. She was asleep in her mother's arms after church. She was just starting to wake up and her eyes opened and she saw me standing next to her mom. Her little eyes just lit up and she gave me a huge grin and sat up. I held out my arms to her and she willingly came to me. Of course, the first thing out her mouth was "treat?" but she was in my arms and happy. I gave her the treat and she gave me a kiss and a "thank you" and we had a nice conversation about her very colorful tights (way cute striped tights!) and which was her favorite color. It was awesome! My brother saw the exchange and couldn't get over how excited she was for the fruit snack. He also couldn't believe that I had purposefully set out to buy her affection and that it had actually worked.

Today I claim the title of Evil-Genius. Life is good.