The other week after sitting for hours in the kid's section of the bookstore, I found myself. Well, I mean I found a younger me. A mini me. She plopped down next to me wearing glasses, a big bow in her hair, and 5 different shades of pink in mis-matched patterns. 

She looks like a young Emiline Harris from Anne of Green Gables with her light brown hair and glasses. She remindes me of a younger me.  Except that her glasses aren't crooked, I thought. I started wearing glasses at age one and a half. If they were straight it lasted about a minute. Normally my glasses were crooked, one side up, one side down. They were regularly stepped on, sat on, broken, taped back together, and sometimes lost. My poor mom tried to keep my glasses adjusted but they never stood a chance because lopsided glasses were my destiny. 

Heck, my glasses are still crooked now. I was going to have them adjusted one day before I left for Atlanta, but when I went in the store had moved locations. Destiny. Remember? 

I watched her start to read her book then sigh and say, pointing to her little brother toddling around the train tracks table, "Dad? Um, dad? I really think you need to be over here supervising him."

Yep. That's a mini me. 

One of the reasons I had chosen to sit in the children's section of Barnes and Noble to read my book is because I thought maybe I'd get the chance to read some books out loud to a little kid. I was really lonely and homesick that day. (I had been bawling on the phone in the parking lot, which made my crooked glasses all smudgy and even more crooked when I tried to fix them) Hearing the little kids playing and saying funny things made me laugh and feel so much better. Plus, a mom sat next to me for a little bit and offered me her half-eaten piece of cheesecake from the bakery. 

I could tell this little girl and I were going to hit it off.

-Hey!

She looks over at me with a wiry glance. 

-I see you picked some fun books out.

She nods then leaves to give her 2 year old brother a talk. When she comes back, I ask if she wants to read a book together with me.

"Sure" she says, squinting at me.

-Do you like reading?

She nods her head.

-Me too. 

She opens up a big book and I can tell she's starting to get excited as she scoots closer to me. 

"I have an idea! Why don't I read a line then you read a line?"

It's a book full of bright colors and drawings and it's all about loving yourself just the way you are. 

She laughs at the pictures. "We already read this book at school yesterday, but I want to read it again!" We start reading back and forth. "And even when I'm weird. . . " she reads and pauses. "Some people tell me I'm weird. I don't know, they just say I'm weird."

-Well, I'm kinda weird too.

EXIBIT A:

EXHIBIT B:

*ahem*

-Yep. I'm kinda weird, too.

She smiles at me. 

"Wait. Can you drive a car?" 

-Yes.

"Noooot faaair! You're so lucky!!!!"

-Why am I lucky?

"Because you can drive a real car! I can only drive kid cars."

-I used to drive in those cars too! I thought they were fun. And you know what?

She leans in close. . .

-Sometimes I wish I could drive those cars more than a real car.

Her surprised face lights up and she laughs. "You wanna know three things? I have three surprises to tell you."

-Number one?

"Well. My friend says she has a BOYFRIEND. AND they think RECESS is a DATE."

She holds up her two hands like puppets. "Here is my friend. Here is the boy. Blah, blah, blah. . . MUAH! He kissed her on the cheek and RAN AWAY. Mom says they're too young for boyfriends."

I try not to laugh.

-Number two?

"Um. . . I forgot. Oh wait! No! I remembered. Sometimes my friends call me a nerd."

-Yeah?

"Yep. They call me nerd. Oh! And number three? Wait. I forgot what i was going to say."

-I forget what I want to say sometimes, too.

"Oh yeah! I WANNA KISS HARRY."

-Harry?

She points to a One Direction poster.

-Oh! Harry Styles?

"YES! EEEEE! I WANT TO KISS HIM. This girl was saying that Harry is "hers" but that's not true, because he's mine. I mean, I'm old enough to have a boyfriend! I wish I was older. Like I wish I was 12. But I told my mom I'm SEVEN. I'm old enough to have a boyfriend because I'm a big kid!!!"

This time, I couldn't help but laugh. I thought about telling her that I'm 21 and don't have a boyfriend  but I think that would've sent her into shock. 

"Opps! See that?" she points to her shirt. Her mix matched outfit tells me that she pickes out her own clothes. I love it. I remember crazy outfits I picked out, too. Bright orange shirt with ugly orange shorts? The perfect outfit. 

"I spilled chocolate milk on my shirt. I had chocolate milk downstairs and squeeeezed it too tight and then it burst on my shirt. POOF! Just like a fountain."

-You see my hand? I wiggled my blue fingers, I was drawing with a blue pen and it exploded ink on me, just like a fountain.

I'm really enjoying reading with this little girl. 

She giggles. "I know just the right book we're gonna read after this one!!" she says and dashes away. We read book after book and I show her how I can make my eyes really big by slowly taking my glasses on and off. 

-See? I look like a bug!

"Ahhh! hahaha! I wanna do that too!!!" She showed me how her glasses were this special bend-y kind that she could flip. 

Over the next 30 minutes we bonded. We bonded over glasses. And our love for reading. And One Direction. And driving play cars. And little brothers. And being weird. And loving the color pink. And lots of other things. I really didn't want to leave that corner of the bookstore. 

When I had to leave "Really? You really have to leave?" we said goodbye and I walked away from my long lost soul child (did that sound creepy?) feeling pretty darn happy and not so homesick anymore.  

As I was leaving I heard "EMILY!" behind me and turned around. There she was. She had sneakily followed me down the escalator and popped out from behind a bookshelf, a mechivous grin on her face. "BYE EMILY!!! BYE! THANK YOU FOR READING WITH ME!!!!"

I smiled and waved "Bye!!" scrunching up my nose again, trying to fix my glasses.
In the corner of my eye I watch her dance away, in and out of the bookshelves.

I hope she still dances in stores when she's older. I think she will.

I still do,
-E