I just saw a little girl on the street who taught me that "sharing is caring: when she was 3. She is about the cutest kid I've ever seen. I have such fond memories of exchanges that I had with her when she was little.

I used to babysit for her all the time. It was the most awesome feeling to know that it was just me and her and we needed to communicate because there was no one else around to help.

I LOVED her freedom and she LOVED suspended reality. I would play this game with her, that I made up called, broccoli. I would go into her room and yell "OK everybody I'm going to take a nap." Mind you, she was already under the covers hiding. Then, I would lie down and  jump up and yell "what's in my bed? is it a bunch of broccoli? Is it a sack of potatoes? and she would jump out and say no "Costello it' s me silly!'

Then she would say "again" like 15 times.....

Then, one night, when I was putting her to bed, I tried to pull off her turtle neck and she freaked out. I asked her what was wrong and it turned out, her Dad had gotten her turtleneck stuck on her head once and now she had a little phobia.

I told her not to worry because if that turtle neck got stuck, Costello would run into the kitchen and get the scissors and cut it right off.

Through her tears and her hiccups she asked, Costello you'll get the scissors if we need them? Then she lifted her arms and I slid the turtle neck off.

As she was falling asleep, she asked one more question, "Costello, do big girls cry?"  Which brought a tear to my eye.

I thought, God, I've had times when I've been in my apt after wearing a shirt that was too tight and having to lie on the bathroom floor to get it off. And how I wish someone could have comforted me.

I responded "only the cool ones."

Then ,one night we were having dinner and she asked me what a word meant. I don't remember the word, but it was something that was really, really hard to describe. I tried and half way through she circled her fingers around her ears and said, "It's tooooooo confusssssssssssing." lol

Then, the killer was when they were filming me for Last Comic Standing and they asked her if she thought I was funny and she said "no." Everyone laughed and moved on, everyone but her. An hour later she was in the kitchen crying to her Mom.  She said I wasn't funny because, she wanted to say that I was pretty and she didn't know if I could be both.

Jeese she must have been talking to those Hollywood types while I wasn't looking. I sensed another phobia growing.

Sharing is caring only when what you are sharing makes the world and others grow. If you share with the intent to dump it takes away and  there is another word to describe that, but it's toooooooooo confussssssssssssing.