Caitlyn's First Love

I think that Caitlyn is destined to be a flirt. Everywhere we go, she charms the people she meets. She loves to give hugs, especially to little boys.  She likes to pretend to go to dances, and she sings little love songs all day long. Her favorite boy changes all the time. Mostly it is Daddy, but sometimes it is one of her brothers, PawPaw, a friend named Josh, or even the cat.

However, there is one boy who is always in her thoughts- her Andy. Caitlyn loves Andy. She talks about him all the time, she grins and giggles when his name comes up, and she loves to see him. Sometimes, when she hears a knock at our front door, she cries out, "Andy?" in her tiny, hopeful little voice. When Andy is around, Caitlyn wants to be near him. She will also go about her own business, playing and prancing, but inevitably she will run back to Andy for a hug or to show him something she has found. Of course, this is only after she has gone through the shy routine. When she first sees him, Caitlyn will hide her eyes or fall to the ground in a sort of little girl swoon. Ahh, the thrill of a girl's first love.

After Lorelei was born, we told Caitlyn that Andy was coming over to meet her new baby sister. Caitlyn marched over to one-month old Lorelei, peered down at her, and said in the most indignant voice I've ever heard pass her lips, "It's not YOUR Andy, baby Lorelei. It's MY Andy."

Did I mention that Andy is an adult? No? Well, he is a friend of ours that attends law school with Jason. He is just an all-around nice guy, obviously successful, and one of the guys that half of the girls at the school have their eye on. So, at least Caitlyn has good taste. I always feel bad for him because he constantly has to endure stories from us and our other friends about Caitlyn- how she talks about him, how she reserves his seat (by her, of course) when we all go out to eat, etc. Andy takes it all in stride. He watches out for Caitlyn, pays attention to her (even when she is showing him the sixteenth leaf from the ground), and always walks her out to our car when it is time to leave.

Yesterday, we went to help out at a benefit run that Andy was heading up. When we told Caitlyn that Andy was going to be there, she was thrilled. In fact, she asked me, "Mama, can I wear my twirling dress so maybe Andy will dance with me?"  Like I said, she loves Andy.

I know that her first real love will come along in a few years, and we will have to let her go just a little bit. I know he will probably be some teenage punk because, let's face it, most teenage boys are punks. And I'm sure that Jason and I will hate letting her go anywhere with him. And at some point, I'm sure he will cause her grief and tears because, let's face it, most teenage punks do things like that.  And we will look back on the days when Andy was her crush wistfully, longingly because these are the days when her love is sweet and innocent, and we don't really have to let her go, not even a tiny bit.