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| Image credit: Photo by tripp-e on Flickr Licensed under Creative Commons |
My daughter Janie ran up to me today, curls bouncing and eyes sparkling, and exclaimed enthusiastically, "Mama, I love you the most of anyone!" Then she thought for a moment and (clearly not wanting to leave her other loved ones out of the picture) tempered that with, "More than anyone outside our family. I love our family the most!"
"I love you so much too! I love you and Austen and Daddy more than anyone else in the whole world," I replied.
"What about our cat?" asked Janie, "He's part of our family. Don't you love him too?"
"Yes, I love our cat, but not as much as I love you."
"Oh," said Janie, "Do you love your friend JW?"
"Yes, I love JW."
"Do you love her more than the cat?"
"Yes, I love her more than the cat."
"And who else do you love? Do you love your other friends, like Jay and Kelly and other people like that?"
"Yes, I love my other friends too."
"Do you love them more than the cat?"
"Yes, I love them more than the cat."
"Why?!" she asked, clearly shocked at the amount of love that was being directed outside of our immediate household and away from the cat.
"Hm, because the cat is, well, a cat not a person. Cats can't talk to me and have a relationship like people can. So, I don't love cats the same way that I love people."
"Do you love all people better than cats?"
I laughed and thought of a whole slew of people, from the kid who used to shoot spitballs at the back of my head to my high school history teacher to George W. Bush to blog trolls, and said, "No, I definitely love our cat more than some people."
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