Afton has a funny relationship with her Knoxville cousins, aunts and uncles. They love her like crazy. She's the youngest of the bunch and is in high demand. About a year ago she could not tolerate a single one of them. All of their repeated and earnest efforts at showing any amount of love were met with flat out rejection: crying, growling, "go away!"s, hitting...anything to send the message loud and clear: "How dare you love me. Take your kindness elsewhere." Somewhere over the last few months her heart of ice thawed out at least partially. She doesn't mind them all so much anymore and will accept hugs and high fives most of the time. She is still very particular though. If she's not in the mood for you, you'd better just back off. It's become a sport of sorts to see who can win her affection/tolerance and who she will kick to the curb. Many tactics are used--ipads, treats, phones and
up high--with varying degrees of success and sustainability. We thought it would be fun to put the whole saga to music for this year's talent show. Bonus: the night before Thanksgiving, we were treated to a sweet and endearing Afton who spent the last hour before bedtime telling all of the cousins that they were her best friend and showering them with hugs and kisses and pretend stickers and stamps. It was nice to have a happy ending.
{Movie styling is a nod to the
Smith family's music video, which we all enjoyed seeing last summer.
We also appreciate the intro to a cool song.}
