One night, at least 1-1/2 years ago, I told Kenzie a scary story. Not sure why, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. It was her first scary story. It was about a little girl who snuck out of the house with a flashlight, went into a dark, damp cave, the flashlight burned out, and she was stuck in the dark. Then she saw two white eyes coming at her and heard footsteps ("thwap, thump...thwap thump"). They got closer, closer, closer...

Kenzie was mesmerized by this story, so I drug it out. In a hushed, scary voice, eyes wide, I told her how the little girl was terrified and the footsteps got louder and the eyes got bigger. She was terrified. "Thwap, thump, the footsteps were getting louder, the white eyes bigger." But, it had a happy ending. The white eyes turned out to be two flashlights that her mother was holding as she came looking for her, and took her home. Kenzie had a huge look of relief. She laughed at the end, as it had definitely captured her attention.

I didn't think about this story again. Until tonight. Mason asked Kenzie for a little whale story. She told a story about a little whale who snuck out of the house with a flashlight, went into a cave, "thwap thump"...it was practically word for word the story I told her when we were in West Seattle. Wow, guess that one made a lasting impression.