The Darnedest Things

Kids. It’s a cliche, but it’s true; they really do say the darnedest things.

Jedi has the kind of gregarious personality where I think he would have been fine if we forgot about most candy this Halloween and instead focused intently on getting to know everyone. The boy will talk to whoever will listen, and will sometimes talk even if you won’t.

Dressed in their soft-muscled costumes, the boys rang a doorbell of a porch-lit house. We waited a minute, without response. “They must not be home”, we conceded. “Or busy.”

As we were walking away, a woman opened the door. Jedi ran back across the leaf blown yard, happily erupting in “trick or treat!”. With his goody bag stretched wide, he chimed without filter, “We thought you were going potty!”

The woman smiled politely before letting out a laugh at his GI Joe masked exuberance. Because really, what can you say to that?

A few steps down, after knocking on the door and receiving a handful of bite sized chocolate, Jedi pokes his head inside the open house.

“I really like your furniture!”, he brightly exclaims.

“Oh, well, um, thank you”, she offers, surprised. “Most kids don’t notice the furniture.”

Most kids are not Jedi, I thought. Although maybe they should be, because he’s a pretty rad, funny little boy (if I do say so myself). Even if he has given me a lesson in humiliation over the years.