"They're gonna kiss, aren't they?" (giggle)

This weekend, I spent most of my time hanging out with the fam. Sunday afternoon, my dad and I decided to watch National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets, a movie which will forever live in infamy for me!

Ok, maybe not infamy, (pardon my dramaticism) but I did have a couple of interesting revelatory moments as a result. First, I am woefully uninformed regarding American History. Did anyone else know that there are actually THREE Statue's of Liberty? Or that the president's desk was called the Resolute Desk...and that the Queen of England has one just like it...or that they are really puzzle boxes which hold the secrets to ancient treasure troves beyond our wildest dreams? No? I didn't either! Darned public school education!

Anyway, the second revelatory moment was this: my niece, The Princess, is already a hopeless romantic...and she's only 5! Towards the end of the movie when the action was getting pretty intense and the male and female lead were facing imminent doom for the 4th time in 20 minutes and then it looked like they just might make it and everything would be ok, my niece (who had been napping in my arms and woke shortly before moment of imminent doom #4) said "They're gonna kiss, aren't they?" She then giggled and clapped a little. It was the cutest thing, but I have no idea where she gets this romantic streak from. I mean, none of the women in our family are overly girly and romantic-like. Perhaps she gets this romanticism is from the steady stream of princess movies she's watched since she was born. OK, so I bought the movies for her...but that doesn't mean anything. And, OK, maybe I planned my first wedding at 3, and maybe I had a full-blown wedding binder with dresses and colors and even furniture selections and baby names by the time I was 16 and maybe, up until fairly recently, my movie collection was almost entirely "chick flicks", but still...that is all completely irrelevant and circumstantial.

Then again, maybe she is really just very much like me. I know my dad thinks so. In fact, the other day he was fussing at the Princess for her sassy mouth and called her "Tina."

She's not named after me.
She is sassy like me.
She also doesn't like her food to touch...just like me
And, apparently, she is very girly and romantic, just like me.
Finally, it would seem she is also learning to value modesty and godliness, just like me.

When the male and female lead did actually kiss, my niece covered her eyes. I can count on one hand with fingers left over how many times I've had to cover her eyes because of something inappropriate on TV, but I can say that there have been times when I have averted my eyes in her presence. I know my weaknesses and, being a single woman who desires to honor the Lord in my habits, there are times when I just can't watch romantic scenes in movies or in real life. Its not that I think romance is sinful or wrong or yucky like my nephew does, I'm just trying to avoid temptation. I don't make a big deal about it and can't recall her asking me why, it's just something I do. But, apparently she has seen this and is following my example in this.

My niece's "they're gonna kiss" response tickled me, but her response when they did blessed me more than I can say. Much like old movies that would shut a door or pull a shade or fade to black before intimate moments, my niece wasn't being a prude or shamefully hiding her eyes, she just didn't necessarily need to see the kiss to enjoy the romantic idea of it all. It is a modesty and innocence that has been largely lost in this world...but now I've gotten all serious and I didn't mean to. Whew. Anyway, it was sweet. And after the scene was over, before we looked back to the screen, we looked at each other, smiled real big, giggled again and hugged. That was even sweeter.

(giggle)