Best Friends

I've mentioned before my eldest daughter's tendency to be very literal. She doesn't want to go too deep into anything and doesn't ask the typical "where's heaven?" and "what does God look like?" questions.

However, lately she has really latched onto the concept of best friends. She talks about them all the time and is constantly asking Jeff and I as to whom our best friends are. She even gets specific wanting to know who is our best friend at church, in our family, on our street, etc. (And you can never answer the same thing twice. Ok, except for Maddie who always answers "church".)

Yesterday, she was wondering what does best friend mean and how is someone your best friend. That made me pause a little bit, because I didn't really know the answer. I wanted to give her a good one, so maybe she will start asking more questions.

Here's what I came up with:

• someone you have fun with


• someone you can be happy with, even if you are just sitting quietly together


• someone you miss if they are not with you


• someone you always choose to play with

She sat there quiet for a long time thinking about what I had said. I was starting to feel good about my communication skills, an idea of being an advice columnist in Parenting magazine crossing my mind. Then she spoke.

"O-kay ... well I guess my best friend is skittles."

Oh, Honey. Lesson learned. Next time ask your dad.