zoe 10:34

Last Wednesday, in classic Franz fashion, my parents impulsively invited my two nephews, Brennan and Zoe to join them on a getaway to the north woods in Minnesota. While I could fill up an entire post with just the texts from my mother, (1:23pm. "this is great! i'm so glad we r doing this! ur kids r awesome!!" 1:46pm. "i cant believe u talked us n2 this...y r we doing this!? Pray 4 us..."), I'll instead focus on how much we enjoy our little people and how much we missed them (but we did enjoy the time while they were gone...shamelessly). As my mom and dad learned on their trip, Zoe says some pretty spectacular things. She can be quite hysterical. While I was way too self-absorbed to notice I had any siblings while we were all growing up, had I noticed I had a sister named Maggie AND had I paid attention to her personality, I would probably recognize similarities between her and Zoe (please Zoe, no prepubescent glamour shots...please). Zoe is hilarious without trying. Brennan is really funny too, but the dude works it...hard (yes, Kari and Maggie...I know what you are thinking). Zoe just talks to herself and tells stories. And it's funny. She refers to anything in the past as "last night" and anything that happened today as "tonight." When Brennan is telling a story, Zoe follows it up with something nonsensical that is bewildering yet charming (just like Sassertations). And when she tries to rebuke or be bossy, she weaves together a threat that is eerily familiar yet unlikely. When we picked up the kids on their way back down from Minnesota (we met them in Bloomington), I ran out to the van and in an attempt to scare my two nephews I opened the door and yelled, "alright, who was mean to my kids!? Whoever was mean to either of my kids, I will break your legs and arms!" As per usual, my nephews laughed nervously at me and avoided eye contact. On our way back to Champaign from Bloomington, Zoe chimed in from the backseat, the following conversation ensued:

Zoe: Daddy, you can't break my cousins' legs.

Me: Why not? If they were mean to my kids, they must pay.

Zoe: If you hurt them or crush bones, Jesus will be sad.

Me: Yeah, you're probably right, Jesus would probably be sad if I were mean...or crushed bones.

Zoe: Yes. Jesus will kill you in the night with a sword.

Me: Oh.

Now, when we sent our kids away with my folks we accepted the possibility that they would return following a twelve step program (lego addiction?) or possessing increased empathy for hermits and Engers, but invoking the holy wrath of the old Testament Jesus, wow, that caught me off-guard. The specificity. The amalgamation of Disney movies, Sunbeams, and Halloween. My girl. You see, the best part of Zoe is that she doesn't know she has just said something really hilarious, she only knows after the fact when everyone is laughing. Then she just puts her thumb in her mouth, and smiles REAL big. Just like Maggie. Maggie will rip off a hilarious blog and will smile when she gets positive feedback (she is smiling while she reads this...and is embarrassed that she enjoys being talked about like this on MY blog). Perhaps this is one reason that parenthood is so fulfilling--we see characteristics in our children that we love/admire in others. It reminds us of those people, or even helps us emulate the things we love in those people. Oh, Kari, don't worry...I'm sure Ava will be JUST like you.