Emily and I were walking home from school today when we came upon an elderly white-haired woman painfully making her way along the sidewalk ever so slowly with her cane just barely keeping her from falling over. We would have simply passed her and made our way home but Emily turned to watch her for a while. The woman looked at Emily, smiled sadly, and said, “Yo tengo cinco nietos exactamente como tú,” [I have five grandchildren exactly like you] and she opened her hand towards Emily to allow her to count all five of them. Emily saw the five fingers and earnestly corrected the woman, “No, I’m two!” and adamantly held up two fingers. The old woman, not understanding a word of Emily’s perfect English, corrected her, “No, es que tengo CINCO nietos,” [No, I have FIVE grandchildren] and again held up five fingers. Emily got very upset and shouted at the lady, “No! I’m two!!!” and once again held up two fingers to prove it. This was the part of the conversation where the old woman started crying, explaining how she rarely gets to see her grandchildren, that her daughter had died, and how she would soon be with her in heaven. In an attempt to cheer her up, I marveled at how lucky she was to have five wonderful grandchildren. The woman smiled and agreed. Emily hadn’t made eye contact with her since their little shouting match. We agreed that Emily must be tired and ready for her nap so I scooped her up, said goodbye, threw the little girl on my shoulders and legged it home. That was awkward.