Five

Five is sitting next to me on the computer counter. She swings one leg over the edge and sinks her teeth (and her noes) into an apple that is almost as big as her head. In a few minutes she will hand the apple over to me so I can eat another section of the skin off for her. I could congratulate myself on being so generous as to eat the skin of Five's apple for her but I think it benefits me as much as her. It's been a long time since I have eaten an apple and I need some fruit in my lunch. I would not have bothered if she had not wanted one. That's what being a sister is all about. Even if I do get the less desirable part of the apple, and she doesn't learn to eat through the bitter stuff to get to the sweet, I get some nourishment that I would otherwise not bother about. Little sisters are for learning the things you missed the first time you grew up. Five keeps me looking at the world as if it were something new and exciting. I learn things over again that I may have forgotten. Yeah, I have to listen to the same story for the hundredth time as I read it out loud but it's the first time for her and her excitement spills over and I see it as she does. It never hurts one to go back to kindergarden once in a while. Winnie-the-Pooh is even better when you are reading it to Christopher Robin. I guess God makes them that way on purpose. But you have to open yourself up. Sometimes I'm so caught up in being Nineteen that when Five invites me to do something with her she just comes off as annoying. I have to make a little sacrifice to open myself up. I have to eat the peal off her apple. I have to say yes and give of my time before I can get any nourishment out of it. The apple's flesh that comes off with the peal is sweet. It's not a full meal but it's a little extra I would not get otherwise.
Would you believe that? Five eat that whole apple and now she's getting some one to make her a burrito!