Cuckoo Nastya

I have definitely come to the conclusion that I am learning far more from Nastya than she is learning from me. 

Simple things.  Complicated things.  And everything in between. 

Her perspective on life, family, and her new world as a whole is quite amazing to witness. Not a day goes by that something she says or does just puts a smile on my face, gives me a nugget of "food for thought", or just a plain belly shaking laugh.  And Lord knows, I have quite a belly to shake when she makes me laugh!

Probably the biggest lesson I have learned from Nastya is that no matter what the circumstance, when all else fails, laugh.  And, its okay to laugh at yourself.

Tonight's agenda is a perfect example to illustrate this very point. 

For the last couple weeks, Thursday night has been Papa/Nastya night, as LA has had to work.  We have kind of set a routine for our nights together and it includes a rather lengthly walk with Daisy.  So, I don my tennis shoes, grab Daisy's leash, and head out into the 100 degree heat ready to conquer the world.  Nastya puts on her "bike riding" tennis shoes, gets her bike out of the garage, puts on her helmet, and we head out.

Tonight was a little more adventurous than our normal path.  Instead of our normal route, despite the 105 degree heat index, we took a longer and more indirect route.  On our journey, not once, but twice, Nastya wasn't paying attention to what she was doing and crashed her bike, falling onto the turf.  The first one, she said "the grass jumped up" and got in her way; and the second time, one of Raleigh infamous green monster trash cans just magically grew legs and jumped into her path.  Neither of them were hard collisions nor were they anything to be worried about for her safety.  But the best reaction in the world followed both events...

Nastya gracefully untangled her legs from the bike that has fallen on top of her, brushed off the bermuda grass from her shirt, shorts, socks, and she starts chuckling; shaking her head in disbelief and uttering the words "Cuckoo Nastya". 

What could have been two dramatic events with scraped knees, hurt feelings, and a banged up bike (which is her pride and joy possession at this point), turned into a pretty cool moment.  Those 2 simple words puts it all in perspective.

One more quick story along those same lines.

A few days ago, Nastya and I went to the local Harris Teeter grocery store to pick up a couple items.  On our way out, she picked out a complimentary yellow balloon to take home.  We got to the car to load the groceries in the trunk and she insisted in loading them all by herself.  So, I stepped back and let her do her thing.  When we got home, we went to unload them and this is where the second lesson was learned. 

There were 4 paper bags full of groceries and 2 gallons of milk to bring into the house.  Nastya quickly did the math and decided that she would take 2 bags and 1 gallon of milk and I was to take the other 2 bags and gallon of milk.  Not forgetting the balloon and having her hands full, I could see her calculating how to carry it in the house as well.  I sat back and watched the wheels spin in her head for a brief second as she decided that she would put the string in her mouth. 

4 bags of groceries....check.

2 gallons of milk...check.

1 yellow balloon...check.

We made our way into the house and were walking up our driveway into the garage with groceries (and balloon) in tote.  Not thinking that the balloon was so carefully placed between her lips, I turned to ask her if she was okay carrying the 2 bags and gallon of milk.  Without hesitation, she opened her mouth and yep you guessed it.  Bye Bye balloon.

Once again, without hesitation, Nastya didn't cry or get upset, but just started chuckling in such a manner that made me start to laugh too.  We looked up to the sky and there went the Harris Teeter balloon.   At this point, I realized that this was a moment to cherish and just have a good laugh with her.  We put the groceries and milk down on the driveway and watched as the balloon slowly drifted westward and upward into the heavens.  After 5 minutes of watching the balloon float into the distance and with what is now warm milk, some previously frozen ice cream, and some cold items that are now luke warm, from sitting in the driveway as we watched this balloon sail into the sunset, she looked at me and said "Nastya and yellow balloon cuckoo". 

As weird as it may sound, that five minute period was one of the coolest Papa/Nastya moments to date.  And by the way Harris Teeter, I am still waiting for our royalty check for the 5 free minutes of advertising over North Raleigh as the balloon drifted over neighborhoods and probably dropped into someones yard miles away. 

Both of these events taught me that you cannot take yourself too seriously.  In the eyes of a child, loosing a balloon and crashing your bike could be tragic events.  But not for Nastya. She just laughed and chalked it up to a couple new life lessons learned. 

If by chance in the future life throws you a curve ball, just take a lesson from Nastya and say "Cuckoo Life".  I know I will.