Forget the pain, focus on the positive.

Forget the pain, focus on the positive.

My older daughter has often been the subject of this editorial. People who have met her think she's a philosopher or a stand-up comedian in the making. I think she's just, well, my munchkin.

Just the other month, she was announcing that her sister was "taking Jesus"...thank God she is slowly learning how to pronounce the word "scissors"...actually it could be the other way round...that I have learned not to scratch my head when she mentions it.

Ok, I'll admit it. She does say a lot of funny stuff and most people don't know a better way to react other than just laugh out loud. She's not a willing performer though because she protests every time.

"Stop it! Stop laughing on me!" I always have to stop myself from interrupting her passionate outburst and editing her words. So I try to focus on the task at hand and try my best not to join the muffled (well attempted) cackling of the rest of her audience.

Thankfully, the last time this happened (just the other evening during her bath), it was just me and her. It was one of those moments when you wish you had a camcorder to record every second. She had some mosquito bites on her legs (from sitting on the verandah) and she had scratched them raw...it had slipped my mind as I lathered her wash cloth with soap and started to scrub.

"Mama! Stop!" By the time I remembered what the sting of soap on a fresh wound felt like, it was too late. She sat bravely without shedding a tear as I rinsed the soap off. Then she said it. "Mama, my legs are singing. Can you hear?"

Ok. That was deep. I had to take a minute to think about what she had just said. She was just looking at the bright side of life. She had chosen to forget her pain by calling it music. I couldn't stop smiling to myself and then laughing at her interpretation. "Mama, are you laughing on me?"

"No Mama. I'm laughing at life."

"Who is life?"

"Life is something very funny."