Emma and I had quite the conversation on the way home from church tonight. It seems that 8-year-old girls can be quite catty to one another, and she was filling me in on a few squabbles that have taken place at school recently. We talked about how some people can seem crabby and argumentative, but that it’s a good idea to not take it personally, since you don’t know what’s going on in the other person’s life. I said, “Who knows? Maybe she’s just having a bad day because her mom yelled at her that morning” (a scenario I’m quite sure Emma can relate to). And this is how the conversation went after that:
Emma: Well, I think I know why Suzi (not her real name) is kind of crabby…she had an operation on her arm a couple of years ago.
Me: Oh, and she’s still upset about it?
Emma: Well, now she has a fake arm.
Me: I’m sorry… did you say a fake arm??
Emma: Yep. She has one fake arm and one real arm. Once, we were in gym and she smacked me with her arm and I was like, OWWW!!! And she said Oh, sorry about that Emma. That was my fake arm. It has metal in it.
Me: (a little dazed) OH…and does it look like her other arm?
Emma: Pretty much. It has veins in it, but there wasn’t any blood in the veins until March Break. She said she had some blood put in on March Break.
Me: Well, I guess all of that would make you crabby once in a while. (I don’t know…it was hard to know how to respond after the whole vein thing)
Emma: Well, that and also she lives with her aunt…her mom drinks.
Me: OH!!
Emma: And her dad too.
Me: OH MY.
I'm not quite sure what to make of all of it, really. I think we'll add her to our prayer list. The part about living with her aunt is probably a sad truth, unfortunately. But I think i need to check out the arm for myself!
