The Gregg Girls

Inevitably...at least once or twice a month... we are out and about doing our thing...when a well intentioned stranger enters the picture with a question posed something like this..."They are sooooooooo cute. Are they yours?" "Yes, they are"...I respond...with a friendly smile...and usually the girls smile too...and then just because it's the way we do it...we make eye contact...my children and I. It's our touchstone moment when times may take a turn towards wacky. If something isn't blurted out immediately...a few seconds might pass...ones filled with uncertainty and trepidation on the stranger's part. "All of them. They are all yours?".... comes the challenge. I nod...knowing the questions only come from a place of curiosity...nowhere else. "Yep. They are all mine"...I smile again..."And thanks. They are cute, aren't they?" There's a brief moment of closer inspection...maybe followed by something similar to.... "But they don't look alike." At this time Jemima might be pointed at. "This one here looks kind of Asian." Jemima is so sweet and a servant who is always looking for ways to make others more comfortable. She usually smiles at these people....at least outwardly. "Oh, yeah" I nod....."Yeah she does"...then... "That's because she is Asian." The girls and I share more eye contact and then we either cordially squeeze past and go about our business excusing ourselves and wishing all a "good" day"...or sometimes, I add graciously..."Galilee was born in Russia... Jemima was born in Kazakhstan...and Zion was born in Arizona." Sometimes, it's the girls themselves who offer the details. Sometimes we just never-you-mind and keep on going. When we just never-you-mind and keep on going...Galilee usally wraps the whole experience up with an "Okaaaaayyyyyy then."