Innocence and Peppermints

I have this cock-a-mamie idea:

that people carry the seeds of their future within them...that if you know where to look for it, you can see the luck, the happiness, or the tragedy of a person's entire existence in their eyes/actions/demeanor when they're a child.



But now that Anonybabe is around, I'm feeling the opposite. She's not exactly a blank slate, but she's a damn site closer to it than I ever thought she'd be. She is poised on the cusp of writing her own story. For reals. That's exciting. And strange.

Perhaps I took Oedipus Rex a bit too seriously in junior high. I tend to project this air of tragedy on kids. Like they already carry the mantle of grief and confusion and responsibility that adults have. I still don't think innocence is a virtue. A luxury, maybe. _Maybe_.

But I was surprised to see a glimpse of clean innocence in Anonybabe last night. And I was surprised by how...natural it felt.