My Family’s Shape
photo by the shape people
On the way home, Smiley Face brought it to my attention that she’s already 11 and soon she will be a teenager.
I said, “Oh no, you’ll no longer be a cute little girl.”
“Yeah, I won’t be ACUTE angle anymore I’ll be a Right angle.” she replied with pride after making her math pun.
“What?” I answered.
“You know, before I was ACUTE because I’m your little CUTE girl, now that at I’m 11, I’m a RIGHT angle because I’m at a RIGHT age where I will still do everything you say. But, when I become a teenager, I will be an OBTUSE angle because I’ll be trying to stretch myself out to be bigger than I am.”
I slowed the car down, looked at her and said, “Huh?”
“Dadieeee.”
“Ok, if you are a right angle, what am I?”
She could barely contain her excitement and said, “You’re a triangle because you have three sides.”
“What do you mean I have 3 sides.”
“Well, you’re funny, serious, and tired. That’s it, three sides.”
“Ok, what about Mama, what shape is she?”
“Oh, Daddy that’s so easy. She’s a circle because she’s perfect.”
“How come Mama gets to be a perfect circle and I’m a triangle?”
She laughed and said, “That’s just the way things are.”
“Hmmmmm…what about your brothers and sister”
“Ok. The Guy In The Middle is an IRREGULAR shape because he is just plain weird. The Prodigal Son is an OBLONG shape because his face and body is OBlong. My sister, The Family Genius, is a POLYGON because there are so many sides to her. Sometimes she’s happy, other times she’s sad, and on and on and on. Now Sylar on the other hand is the new ACUTE angle because he is so cute even though sometimes you want to smack him around.”
“Man, you’ve really thought this thing through, huh?”
She smiled and said, “Of course. Will you post this on your blog?”
I said, “Maybe, if I don’t have anything important to say.”
She tilted her head to the right, looked at me, smiled and looked away. Meanwhile, I kept my eyes on the road and I kept thinking how I became a triangle. Well, at least she didn’t say that I was a square.
