Savannah is my niece, and she is five years old now. I was first introduced to her by my wife, Monica, who I had then just met. That was well over two years ago, so I believe Savannah had just turned three. Monica was picking Savannah up from day care for her sister, Patty (Savannah’s mother), and I was tagging along for the ride.

Monica warned me that Savannah was a little bit of a holy terror. She also mentioned that she was shy around strangers, especially men. Monica and Patty were the only two people that Savannah would ever let hold her (aside from the lady who took care of her during the day, whom she loved dearly and called “Tedda”). All these things I took with a grain of salt, as I had taught K-12 for three years prior, and had met plenty of so-called “holy terrors”.

When Monica brought Savannah to the car, what I saw was a very sweet looking little girl. Soft blonde hair, big eyes, chubby cheeks…everything many people might think of when they picture a baby girl. She was accompanied by her older sister, Kaylee, who I believe was about seven at the time. She was also a very pretty young lady.

Savannah was very quiet the whole time we drove around. I was informed that this was not her normal behavior. Monica and I both talked and joked with her and Kaylee, but only Kaylee spoke back. Savannah just sat there with her thumb in her mouth, looking at us from time to time, but mostly just staring off into space.

I suppose that it is important to note at this point that I am often challenged by peculiar children. If a child doesn’t speak, I like to try to get them to speak. If they’re afraid of heights, I try and get them to go someplace that’s high with me. I don’t push them; I just find ways to challenge them and encourage them.

We went to my grandpa’s house to drop something off and met Patty there. In his kitchen, there were some pringles setting on the counter, and I popped them open and offered Savannah and Kaylee some. Savannah took one out of my hand; nothing phenominal.

Savannah seemed very withdrawn, and I knew that it was because of me; I was a man, and she was very shy around men in general, but especially strange ones (and I’m as strange as the come, perhaps). I had come to terms with the fact that, for this first day at least, she was not going to speak to me, or even look at me much. Nevertheless, I was remaining as light-hearted and silly as I knew how, trying to help her drop her gaurd and relax a little bit. Kaylee thought that I was very amusing; I had her rolling with laughter most of the time.

As we were going back to the car, Monica noticed that there was a swing set in the back yard, and asked Savannah, whom she was holding, if she wanted to swing on it. Seizing the opportunity, hopeless as it was, I immediately reached my hands out to her and said, “Come on. I’ll take you.” Without hesitation, Savannah stretched her hands out to me and fell confidently into my arms. The expression on Monica’s face was one that I will never forget; shock, disbelief, thrill. She chuckled under her breath and shot a befuddled glance at the girl’s mother as she handed the unusually willing little girl to me.

You can imagine how proud I felt to have such a shy and paranoid little girl put her trust in me so completely. Savannah wouldn’t even let her own father hold her, and here I was, not only holding her, but carrying her away from her mother and aunt to go push her on a swingset, and this only a half hour after we met.

She never let me hold her again that day. But then, I never had such a tremendous way to bribe her for the rest of the day, either.