Reality Bites...Me

David and I are always teaching Annie, hopefully in subtle ways, that she has much to say about how her days turn out and what her experiences are. We pass along to her the idea that we can, and do, create much of our own reality.

I mentioned a while back how, out of the blue, Annie asked me to take her to The Big Apple Circus. (It was out of the blue because we hadn’t been in a couple of years.) And sure enough, a few days after her request, I received an email saying that, although I had no knowledge of being entered in a drawing, we had won two free ringside tickets to the circus.

This past Saturday, while Annie and I shared popcorn and cotton candy under the Big Top, she turned to me and asked if I would buy her a stuffed animal before we left, specifically the dog with the red leash. I told her no.

I've tried countless times to explain that one's experience does not need to be validated by purchasing a souvenir on the way out. (My God, I sound just like my father!) Then Annie said it was really the leash she was after, to use when playing with her stuffed animals at home. It seemed like a reasonable request, so I told her we could stop at the pet store and buy an inexpensive collar and leash, and that seemed to satisfy her.

After the show was over and we were exiting the tent, I noticed that the price of the stuffed dog wasn’t much more than what I would most likely spend at the pet store, so after making sure the collar was removable, I bought her the dog.

Annie thanked me profusely and as we walked outside she declared, "I created my reality AGAIN!"

I asked her what she meant and she replied,

"While the show was going on, I kept saying to myself, "I WILL have the dog with the leash, I WILL have the dog with the leash!"