Anna M. Aquino

Yesterday my youngest daughter insisted I let her wear a dress that is a hand me down from her sister. I took one look at it and knew it was way too big for her. She pleaded and pestered. Finally I said “Ok, just try it on and then we’ll talk.” In my head this little inch of giving in was going to prove to her that it was way too big for her. In her mind it was just an excuse to pester further. I wasn’t about to let her in public looking like that. The dress was at least four sizes too big. I could see the frustration bubble up inside of her. “Hunny it really doesn’t fit you.” I could see it sagging on top of her clothes. “But when will it fit me?” She whined. “Maybe in a year?” Really I was exaggerating. Maybe in a few years is more like it. “So next week?” She pleaded. “No dear. Maybe in a year.” “So maybe by my birthday?” I watched her pleading with me. She wanted to be big enough to wear the dress. But she just isn’t yet. Then something like a li...

A few weeks ago I was driving back from the grocery store with I came across and intersection. There were probably twenty five ducks and they weren’t being very quick about crossing the road. I thought at first if I drove very slowly then they would move so that I could get home, but that wouldn’t work. The ducks took their own precious time crossing over to get to the pond on the other side of the street. Then I half considered getting out of the car to hurry them along. However, there were already a couple of people gathering to take pictures of their voyage and I really didn’t want to look like a crazy woman trying to hurry them up. So I sat in the car and waited….and waited….and waited. While I didn’t look at my watch, it felt like at least 15 minutes until there was a hole in the pack of ducks were I could get my car. Half of them were on one side of the street and the other half on the other. This is not my picture. I thought about grabbing one but I didn’t. It can fe...