How did that happen? I thought I’d left those days in my rear-view mirror long ago.

But generations breed new generations, and now there’s another one in the family. This beautiful little girl is Anneliese, a ten-month-old bundle of crawling, snooping, poking, prodding, red-headed curiosity . . . who has decided she hates me.

She lives at the other end of the state and hasn’t seen me in several months, so she doesn’t remember me. And for some reason, she finds me scary. But her mom says she’s shy of all strangers, so I’m trying not to take it personally when she stares at me for a full five minutes, then screws up her little face and wails like a banshee.

In my younger days, I sometimes elicited that kind of reaction from the men I dated; but for the most part, babies and animals have always loved me. Her mom tells me Anneliese is wary of all strangers, though; so again, I’m not going to take offense.

However, my patience is finite, so I’m putting her on notice:

“You’re here for the next four days, kid . . . and that’s exactly how much time you have to get used to me. Don’t make me have to report you to Santa.”

“Hmm . . . naughty or nice?”

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
9/22/25