Worrywart

My perfectionistic mind causes me to (sometimes) stress unduly about certain things that probably aren't worth the fuss. For example, when we're playing with our assortment of playground, golf, tennis, and various other bouncy balls in the cul-de-sac, I'm constantly worried that they're going to go down the water drain at the end of our driveway. I know exactly which ones will fit through the gap behind the drain grate (because I've tested them). And if one of the smaller ones starts to roll even remotely in that direction, I drop everything and take off to "save" it. (You can imagine my stress level when Dale is practicing his chipping in the front yard, hitting the tiny foam golf balls into the cul-de-sac and letting the girls chase after them.)

Anyway, Ivie has either inherited or learned this trait from me. She, too, is quite worried about the ill-placed drain eating our toys and Dale's golf balls. And, this morning, she showed that this attitude is more global in her thinking than I had hoped...

As we headed to Kidzu (pictures to follow soon, I'm sure!), we passed a man holding a sign that said, "Cash For Gold" on the corner at the stoplight right near out house. Here's a visual of what the corner looks like, for those of you who don't know our surroundings here.


As you can see, there's a fairly large grassy area between the sidewalk where the guy was standing and the pond in the background. The sign he was holding was a long, thin, rectangular one, and he was doing "tricks" with it, tossing and flipping it in the air, over his head, through his legs, etc. I pointed him out to Ivie, since we were stopped at the light. She observed him for a while and then, as we began driving through the now-green light, she exclaimed,

"I hope he doesn't throw it in the pond!!!"

Dale's response? "I wonder where she gets THAT attitude?!?"

I started to defend myself, but stopped short. Because there's just really no way I could argue with that.