Random Esquire

I spent the weekend in New Jersey with my sister.  Her daughter, my niece, is 2 1/2.  Niece said something that caught my ear and I asked my sister, “Does she have an imaginary friend?”  Turns out she has two and also two imaginary pets.  Her friends are named Katcho and Comedy.  No lie.  I wondered about the pets names.

Random: Do you have a dog?

Niece: Yes.

Random: What’s his name?

Niece: Silk.

*pause*

Random: Do you have a cat?

Niece:  Yes.

Random:  What’s her name?

Niece:  Silky Silky.

*Blink*

I looked at my sister and she rolled her eyes, “We really have no idea how this happened.”  My sister imposed a rule that I was not to encourage these imaginary friends.  I asked why not.  She said she doesn’t want her daughter to be seven years old and saving space at the lunch table for Comedy.

I told my mother that the kids were baptized.  My sister asked if she (my mother) was happy about that.  I said yes, she was relieved that my sister was no longer raising heathens.  My sister said dryly, “Oh yes…they’ve been washed of their Original Sin. I can totally tell.”

heh.

So, the baptism.  I didn’t understand a word of it.  Okay, that’s not entirely fair but this was a priest whose presence at the church on a Saturday afternoon was paid for with a generous donation to his mission in Sri Lanka.  He not only had an accent but he was pretty determined to have this thing over in 15 minutes.  I’m pretty sure I denounced or renounced Satan and all his empty promises while also promising to make sure the kids grew up Christian.  I figure I’m already in trouble on that one since the first thing I did was ask my niece if Katchoo and Comedy enjoyed the Baptism as well.

Welcome to the family.