Someday he'll come along

When Annie was very little she had a serious obsession with Elmo, and David joked that we shouldn't be surprised if she grew up to marry a funny looking man who was covered in red hair. But as she got older, and after she saw the movie Grease, we noticed her taste in men began to change.

One day the phone rang in my apartment, I had gone to the market and Annie answered. The man on the other end of the line thought it was me and shouted, "I love you!" Annie decided it was a wrong number and quickly hung up, but when I returned she exclaimed, "Mom! I think John Travolta just called!"

Recently, when Annie joined me to fold clothes in the laundry room, I made a comment to which she replied, "Your accent sounded just like John Travolta in Hairspray!" And three weeks ago, after her first swim class, she jumped out of the pool and walked toward me with a big smile on her face.

"My instructor is so cool!" she said. "And doesn't he look like John Travolta?!"

So, should I tell David not to be surprised if our daughter grows up to marry an Italian-American actor from New Jersey whose childhood nickname was "Bone"and is now a devote Scientologist?

I think I'll keep that thought to myself and let him believe there's a sweet, funny looking red-haired monster on the horizon.