The Girl in Apartment K is a big kid. No. Really. She may act like a grown up on the outside: paying bills on time, never late to work, taking the high road when she can. But that is all an act. Inside (and sometimes not-so-inside), the Girl in Apartment K is a child.
Her love for cartoons: The Girl in Apartment K was not an athletic child. She was quite content sitting in front of the TV watching Nickelodeon and the same movies over and over and over. To this day, those movies still touch her heart. An American Tail, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Land Before Time (the original, none of those bullshit sequels) are just a few of the films that impacted her as a child.
Toys: Legos, Play-Doh, Colorforms. The Girl in Apartment K loves to play. Sometimes, if she's not in a hurry, The Girl in Apartment K will stop by a park just to swing for a bit. The breeze flowing thru her hair, the chains in her grip. It takes her back to the swing set in her back yard. Back to a simple time when she didn't have a care in the world.
Pop-up books: Pretty sure this one explains itself. :)
Her Girls: The Girl in Apartment K lives vicariously thru her three nieces right now. She listens to them talk about baton practice. Gets excited with them when a boy shows up at gymnastics just to see them. She signs their homework for them. She has them read to her. She bakes for them just so they can lick the beaters. She aches with them when they are in pain. When their boyfriends don't call or when a girl calls them a bitch.
Being a child on the inside is The Girl in Apartment K's way of forgetting the bad things in her life, in the world. Watching the Muppets helps her forget that her house is foreclosing. Surprise trips to the mall just for cookies help her to move past the idea of wife beaters and earthquakes. Making sand castles gives her a break from being the boss. She doesn't need a car to play video games with her girls. The idea of going over the rainbow to a land of sun and color gives her hope. Why would she want to be anything less than a child when there are so many grown up problems in her world?
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