I was going to write “The Girl’s Got Plans,” but I’m reading BOTH Eats, Shoots & Leaves AND The Elements of Style with my Challenge II class, and those books have rendered me completely paranoid about my use of apostrophes, commas, and other punctuation marks – not to mention grammar. (What do you think about that hyphen usage?) For instance, in the last post I wrote this phrase: “We sat with she and her husband….” Well, I was re-reading that post the following day and realized, to my horror, that is was an improper usage of the word “she.” What I should have written, and quickly edited the post to say was this: “We sat with her and her husband…” That’s because you can’t sit with “she,” but you can sit with “her.” So, is “girl’s” really an appropriate contraction for “girl has” ?
I think maybe not.
My poor little 14 and 15 year-old students think Lynn Truss and I have completely lost touch with modern reality, because isn’t “you’re” now spelled “UR” ?
“C’mon, Mrs. Krum, don’t you know anything?”
But what I really wanted to tell you (and yes, I know it is questionable to begin a sentence with a conjunction) is that my darling 10 year old daughter, Kayla, recently mapped out her future, and I mean (Texan vernacular) she has got it planned to a “T.”
Kayla: Mom, do you have to go to college to be a chef?
Me: Well, no, but there are special culinary schools you can go to that teach you how to be a chef.
Kayla: Ok. Well, then let me tell you the plan for my life.
Me: Let’s hear it.
Kayla: Well, I am NOT going to go to college. I am going to go to a school that teaches me how to be a chef. After that, I am going to be a waitress. I will save my money and work my way up to be the owner of the restaurant.
My part-time job on the weekends will be a piano player. I am going to play at the White House and other places on the weekends when I am not working at the restaurant.
I am going to rent an apartment, and Madeline (her cousin) can live with me and help me pay the rent.
(Sharing the apartment with Madeline was actually my suggestion, but she thought it was a good one.)
I will have lots of pets to keep me company. I’m going to have a Labradoodle, a fish, and my bunnies – unless mine die. Then I will get new bunnies.
Mom, how long does it take to get to Greenfield?
Me: Only about 20 or 30 minutes.
Kayla: OK. Well, we’re going to live in Greenfield, because it’s close to you and Dad. I will work in a restaurant in Greenfield for a while and then I will open my own gluten free cafe there.
Me: Wow! That’s a great plan, but what about church? Are you going to be a part of a church?
Kayla: Oh yes! I am going to go to Mercyhouse for the rest of my life, and be in a mid-week small group Bible study.
I’m also going to go to Paris and live in an apartment there for a while, because I love the Eiffel Tower.
Me: (hopefully) What about a husband and children?
Kayla: I don’t know… I haven’t quite decided about that yet.
Me: That is a great plan, honey! You will be so good at all of those things, but I, personally, would love to have some grandchildren, so if you could possibly work that in, that would be great!
Kayla: (smiles and laughs)
You have to admire her ambition, and yet I can’t help but question my modeling of wife and mother when she would rather have pets than a husband and kids. Unfortunately, I think it may be backlash against my pet aversion. In my unprofessional analysis, I think she may be overcompensating for my lack of affection for the furry creatures in our lives.
Not sure I can reverse this trend.
On the up side, she does love to play the piano (much to the dismay of her brothers doing schoolwork in the same room), proper punctuation and grammar (thanks to 1+ years of Essentials of the English Language), and her geography. Although I had to tell her that Paris was indeed, NOT in the United States. Rather, it is in that continent that she is studying in Classical Conversations this year: Europe.
Kayla: Oh, that’s right! That’s right. I really knew that, Mom.
Love my girl!
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Hi Melanie. I haven't been by in a while so I thought I'd stop in for a visit 🙂
I love your post about your dtr's plan. Tooo sweet!!
I will come and eat at her Cafe and bring all my children that eat gluten free 🙂 Did she name her Cafe yet? Something cute, quirky, catchy? I bet whatever she names it will be perfect.
~Cinnamon
I love her! Lol…so coool. And I'm sure she'll grow up to be an amazing wife and mother, too. How 'bout that comma before too? With or without? Glad I'm not alone in my paranoia. : )
Don't worry about the grandchildren – remember, it wasn't that long ago that Kayla learned the horrifying truth about how they're manufactured! 😉