World-weary...and three feet tall

The scene: Thursday evening, Family Dollar, standing in line, waiting to purchase shower curtain liner.

In front of me, a grandmother is waiting to purchase a few miscellaneous items while wrangling two grandchildren: a bespectacled boy around 8 years old and a girl around 6.

The girl is bouncing up and down, touching everything within reach, prompting Grandma to grasp wildly for and then hold the little one's hands at her sides.

At this point the girl, although restrained, continues to bounce up and down, up and down, up and down and chant loudly -- while her brother faces bravely forward.

Bouncy: We're going to Grandma's! We're going to Grandma's! Grandma's! Grandma's! GrandmaGrandmaGrandmaGrandma! GrammagrammagrammagrAAAAAAAAAMMMMAAAAA--"

Grandma: (trying and failing to clap one hand over Bouncy's perpetually moving mouth, but still kind of laughing, because, obnoxious or not, the girl is adorable) Oh, my God, you are LOUD.

Older Brother: (over his shoulder, with a world-weary roll of his eyes) Welcome to my world, Grandma. Welcome. To my world.

**********

As a fellow older sibling, I wanted to hug the little guy. Hug him, pat him on the back, and reassure him that...it's just going to be like this for the rest of his life, so he might as well get used to it.

:)

Sidenote: As Grandma was paying for their purchases, Older Brother was trying in vain to justify adding a bag of chips to the pile. "Sometimes I wake up really early in the morning, like 5:00, and I just NEED Doritos."

I sort of wanted to adopt him on the spot.