The Look

As a child you look at grown-ups and tend to think they’re lost. They drink too much and say strange things to you. Some will put on a baby-voice or raise eyebrows in a “look how interested I am in you” kind of way. When essentially they’re too wrapped up in problems you know you’ll never have. They take the dance floor and make silly moves. They park their car against a tree. They have fights in public. You find yourself pointing out that a man’s fly is down. Grown-ups simply don’t get it.

You, on the otherhand, do. Your outlook on life is perfect. And you are convinced that this is how you will be, forever and ever. It’s not like you make a particularly conscious decision to do things differently. It’s more that you feel superior.

Until one day, you find yourself wearing jeans that are too tight. Perhaps your breath stinks. And you are in an argument with your boss. While in a heated discussion, your celophone jammed between your ear and shoulder because you’re trying to open a can of tuna at the same time, you glance over at your child and see that look. Yes, that one.