murphy

murphy must have been a father. what other than parenthood would have provided him the inspiration for his law? case in point: eight days ago, while we were over at my parents' house for dinner, the kids decided it would be a grand idea to chase each other around the basement. we'd hear a "you can't catch me!" or "ready, set, go!" and then or hearty peal of laughter. but after a few minutes of shrieks of glee, we heard the inevitable -- a THUD, followed by five seconds of silence, and then quite dramatic sobbing. by the time we raced down there, susanna was sprawled on the floor, directly below a very menacing door frame that had apparently just popped out of nowhere. [thankfully, she was totally fine. after a brief interlude of cuddling and soothing and drying of tears, she was bouncing up and down, ready to go again.] had murphy been there, he assuredly would have created this as an addendum to his law: if your two-year old daughter is going to run head-first into a door, causing a two-inch welt to immediately protrude from her forehead and subsequently turn a lovely shade of purple, and then a few days later brown, and then a few days later mustard yellow ... well, she'll do it just in time for her school pictures. and if murphy were really on top of his game, he'd ensure that these pictures not only included individual shots that her parents could just opt not to buy, but also a class photo with her nine classmates and two teachers dutifully smiling at the camera. yes, murphy would make sure to point out that if your child collides into a stationary object with such force that she has two slightly black eyes more than a week later, then you better be prepared for this lovely image to be documented in other people's picture frames for years and years to come.