Some kind of wonderful.

I attended a reception for new faculty last night at the home of the Dean. It was lovely.

During a conversation with the Chair of the Art Department, I mentioned that my talented and lovely daughter, Muffin Uptown, was one of their recent graduates.

"Muffin Uptown is your daughter? Oh! She's a wonderful person! And she was a great student--she's so talented!"

I get this all the time.

Usually folks just say, "I love Muffin!" Because everybody does.

Every time this happens, I am transported back to all those parent-teacher conferences her dad and I attended. It's hard to know the proper response when someone praises your child to that degree. To disagree--even if it were due to some sort of false modesty--would just be wrong. But to agree seems to be somehow taking credit for how nicely she turned out.

Which is just silly. It's not like anyone ever looked at me and said, "She's so wonderful--since you're her mom, you must be wonderful, too!"

So I just throw in with the crowd and heap praises upon her, too. I figure I can blame how perfectly she turned out on her dad.

image, Shorpy Photo Archive.