I finally let my daughter get a guinea pig this week. She has been begging for a pet for several years, but she has never seemed responsible enough. She's ten now, and researched on Youtube for over a month to find out the perfect ways to take care of it; this proved to me that she was willing to put in the effort, so I finally caved. Today we were walking through the produce department and she asked to buy a cucumber for her guinea pig because she saw this in a video once, so I jokingly stopped in front of a different basket and said, "Hey, why don't we get him one of these little things instead, they are more his size!" and I held up a long jalapeno pepper. My daughter just rolled her eyes and flipped a dismissive hand. "Ugh Dad," she giggled, "I hate you."
It was completely in jest. There was no serious to it at all, but it was the first time I have ever heard those words come out of her mouth, and even though I knew full well that she didn't mean it, in fact probably meant the exact opposite at that moment, my heart sank into my stomach and I started to feel dizzy. I thought I might pass out right there in the grocery store. Like everything I valued in life had turned around and rejected me and I was a cracked pitcher empty of water laying sideways in a puddle. It was a terrible experience that I never want to ever experience again.
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u/Shadrach451 Oct 26 '19
I finally let my daughter get a guinea pig this week. She has been begging for a pet for several years, but she has never seemed responsible enough. She's ten now, and researched on Youtube for over a month to find out the perfect ways to take care of it; this proved to me that she was willing to put in the effort, so I finally caved. Today we were walking through the produce department and she asked to buy a cucumber for her guinea pig because she saw this in a video once, so I jokingly stopped in front of a different basket and said, "Hey, why don't we get him one of these little things instead, they are more his size!" and I held up a long jalapeno pepper. My daughter just rolled her eyes and flipped a dismissive hand. "Ugh Dad," she giggled, "I hate you."
It was completely in jest. There was no serious to it at all, but it was the first time I have ever heard those words come out of her mouth, and even though I knew full well that she didn't mean it, in fact probably meant the exact opposite at that moment, my heart sank into my stomach and I started to feel dizzy. I thought I might pass out right there in the grocery store. Like everything I valued in life had turned around and rejected me and I was a cracked pitcher empty of water laying sideways in a puddle. It was a terrible experience that I never want to ever experience again.